Frosted Memories
by Phantom Trainer
Summary: MiM feels that Jack needs to open up more, but he also knows that Jack won't do that on his own. His solution: show everyone that Jack recently met his memories. How will everyone react from seeing the young spirit's past? Well, Jack certainly has a few words for them...
1. Chapter 1: Gathering

**Phantom: Hey everyone. So, I've recently watched the movie "Rise of the Guardians" and just couldn't stop thinking about it. I've seen and made fan art as well as read several stories on it. One of my favourite types was looking into Jack's past before he became a guardian.**

**Trainer: Oh! I've read a few of those too. FYI, I got her to watch the movie and now she's as addicted to this as she is to Danny Phantom.**

**Phantom: Shut up. If you haven't noticed, I can make comparisons to many things and find what are similar between them. It's what I love about these things. Ok?**

**Trainer: I'm just saying. You are like a ghost with an obsession.**

**Phantom: And you're like the ten year old who's a pain in my butt. Anyways, I couldn't stop thinking about Jack's possible past so here I am! Unlike other stories, this won't just have the Guardians watching but also Pitch and the Burgess kids (at least Jamie and Sophie) and some mention of other spirits (made up or not).**

**Trainer: How come I never knew about this idea? Are you withholding from me on purpose?**

**Phantom: Yes.**

**Trainer: What about your Danny Phantom fanfic? When will you do that next chapter huh?**

**Danny and Vlad: Yeah, what about us?**

**Phantom: Hey, no one said that I couldn't do more than one fanfic at a time, so please just chill until then. I'll get back to you guys.**

**Jack Frost: Let's have some FUN!**

**Pitch: Please do shut up…**

**Phantom and Trainer: Welcome to "Frosted Memories"!**

**P.S. The Man in the Moon told you to read this story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from **_**Rise of the Guardians**_**; the plot is mine as well as some characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Gathering**

* * *

It was just another day in the world and everything was fine. Children all around the world where so full of wonder and hope; Enjoying their dreams and memories; and above all else, they were having fun. Speaking of, the embodiment of wonder itself was busy working on his newest toy. He was a big man, and I mean really big. He was also Russian and once a big time bandit. He had long white hair and a beard along with crystal blue eyes. On his arms were tattooed the words 'Naughty' and 'Nice'.

Now, Christmas wouldn't be for another ten months, but this was a job that required work all year round. Humming along to his music, Nicholas St. North – also known as Santa Clause – was carving his newest idea from a big block of ice.

North was just putting the finishing touches on his creation; a beautiful race track with a horse running around it. North pressed a button and a section of the track lift up into a ramp that the horse ran towards. The ice horse neighed and charged forward and leapt off into the air. Instead of the little ice figure crashing to the ground and smashing into millions of pieces, the horse suddenly grew a pair of magical sparkling wings and flew around the room. North gave a triumphant laugh and watched as his creation left a trail a mist as it moved. North was so focused on his new toy that he didn't hear the booming sound of one of his workers racing towards his door.

North's most trusted yeti and head of toy manufacture, Phil, burst into the room yelling something in Yetish. "Gahh, why?" North exclaimed as he watched his ice sculpture crash to the ground. His icy blue eyes saddened by its destruction. Phil gasped and took several steps backwards while apologizing over and over. Just like almost a year ago, the yeti had made the door swing right into the flying object. "What is it that you come crashing into workshop again?" North asked, slightly annoyed that another creation would have to be rebuilt later.

As if he had just remembered why he had rushed in, Phil began ranting to the jolly Russian in his native tongue. To most, this would be nothing but gibberish, but for the man of wonder he knew exactly what the furry beast said. North's eyes widened at the news and firmly said "show me".

Phil nodded and the two left North's office and entered the main workshop of Santoff Clausen. Yetis were working hard to make the new toys for the impending Christmas day. As they walked by the stations, North gave orders and advice. One yeti was painting the last details onto a green race car with water patterns running along the sides and he seemed quite pleased with himself.

North walked by and frowned slightly before waving a hand and saying, "I don't like it; paint it red with hot flames." The yeti looked up surprised and then glanced at the pile of finished cars before groaning at all the wasted work. Phil gave him a sympathetic look and continued to lead his employer towards the globe.

"Go! Shoo! Pesky little elves; always in way and under boot," North exclaimed as he moved forward. When the two got there North started looking at everything to see what the problem was. Phil had told him that there was a problem that needed his immediate attention, but the Russian couldn't find anything wrong. There was nothing wrong with the globe; all the lights of the children were shining brightly.

North turned to the head yeti and asked, "What is problem, my friend? Globe looks fine and there is no sign of Pitch or black sand."

Phil started to garble something about a sign, the moon, shadows and knowing the truth, but what really got North's attention was the mention the Man in the Moon – or Manny as he liked to call him. North turned to face the moon as it shown brightly down through the skylight.

"Ah, Man in Moon. What do you have to say, old friend?" North asked slightly happy and nervous to hear from the moon. If Manny wanted to talk, then it usually was about something important. The Man in the Moon didn't say anything but rather shone his light onto the floor and made shadows appear in the light.

The first few North could easily identify. It was silhouettes of Sanderson Mansnoozie, Toothiana, E. Aster Bunnymund, and Nicholas St. North. In other words, Sandy the Sandman, Tooth the Tooth Fairy, Bunny the Easter Bunny and himself. The next image was of a dark looming figure and North knew right away that it was Kozmotis Pitchner – no, Pitch Black, the King of Nightmares and the Boogieman.

It had been just under a year since the incident that gave the Big Four their fifth member and caused Pitch to be dragged back into his lair by his own Nightmares. They didn't really know what had happened to Pitch since the battle, but they had gotten word that their newest member would occasionally check up on him since he was the only one of the five that knew where the shade's lair was. Although, their fifth didn't like to talk to them about it and said, "It's my responsibility. You guys don't need to worry about It." whenever they brought it up.

Sighing at the idea that they might have to deal with Pitch again so soon, North returned his attention to MiM as the image changed from Pitch to a group of kids who looked no older than ten or eleven years of age. The guardian of wonder blinked a few times before he understood that these were the children that he and the other guardians had met back in Burgess. He chuckled at the memory of the children and how amazed they were at seeing all the childhood "Myths" in action.

Phil tapped the man on the shoulder and pointed to the light again with a worried glint in his eyes. North looked back down and gasped. It was of their fifth guardian; Jack Frost, the spirit of winter and Guardian of fun. However, it wasn't this that made the two so afraid. The image of Jack was blurry, almost as if he wasn't really there anymore. Then the image faded and the moon's light left. Now there was a need to be worried.

North started to pace in front of the control panel for the globe, Phil watching him waiting for his orders. The Russian paused to look at the panel that hid a certain lever. Giving a firm nod to his inner debate, North turned to the yeti and said, "Make preparations for Guardian meeting. I am calling them." Phil gave a gruff reply and went off to prepare for the others' arrivals. North turned back to the panel and allowed the familiar lever to appear. With one swift motion he twisted and plunged the lever into the socket, activating the globe to release the Northern Lights.

* * *

Over in Southeast Asia, a palace that glimmered in the rising sun's light stood tall and proud as the many occupants fluttered around doing their jobs. Thousands of tiny bird hybrids were flying to and fro from the palace either carrying a tooth or a shiny new coin. Those that were returning with teeth flew up to small boxes in the walls of the palace and placed them inside for each of the children that they came from.

The largest of all the fairy-like creatures hovered at the centre of a tower giving out orders. Her feathers were a mix of greens and blues while a single group of feathers on her head were golden yellow. Her violet eyes glancing every-which-way. She had golden bracelets and her wings were flapping faster than a humming bird's. Her name is Queen Toothiana – or Tooth for short. She was speaking so fast without a pause for breath one would wonder if she even needed to.

"Toronto, Ontario; sector 5, 2 molars, 8 lateral incisors and 1 bicuspid. Paris, France; sector 9, 2 central incisors, ball hockey accident. London, England; sector 16, 1 canine, 3 incisors and 4 bicuspids; oh my, is that all from one house?!" Tooth said as the fairies worked around her.

Tooth was about to give another order when Baby Tooth – a fairy that was very close to Jack – flew up to her. Tooth took it the wrong way and was trying to give her next mission when Baby Tooth started to chitter and squeak in her own tongue. Tooth became quiet as she listened and looked up at the sky when Baby Tooth said that the lights were out.

"_North is calling a meeting? Why?"_ the Guardian of memories wondered before she nodded to her child and flew off towards the North Pole. Several of her mini fairies followed her, including Baby Tooth.

* * *

Off in the undergrounds of Australia, a large rabbit was racing through the tunnels of his home. He had gray and white fur with bright forest green eyes. He had boomerangs strapped to his body along with a pouch that held several items related to painting. He wore brown bracers on his arms and had several spring-like prints covering his head and shoulders.

Racing through his tunnels he passed several bundles of eggs with legs and flower beds. The large Pooka – a special species of rabbit – came to a large opening that looked to be a hidden oasis. He kept running until he was near the centre of his home; The Warren. E. Aster Bunnymund was the Easter Bunny; painting eggs all year round for his special day.

He was about to relax from his little run when some of his eggs started to crowd around him. Bunny was surprised to say the least and was trying to understand what his eggs wanted from him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa there, my little googies. What's the matte' with ya? You're actin' like someone tried to step on ya."

His little googies only scurried around more and some even started jumping since none of them could talk. Eventually, the little eggs made an arrow with their bodies and then a second image of the moon. Bunny furrowed his brow at the message. _"Look to the moon?"_ Bunny thought. _"Why would I need to look at the m-"_ Bunny cut his thought short and saw the Northern Lights in the sky. Understanding what his eggs were trying to tell him, he tapped his foot on the ground twice and created a hole.

"Now I expect ya all to behave while I'm gone," he told the eggs before he jumped into the hole and it closed shut; a beautiful pink flower standing where he once stood. Moments later, another hole opened up in the North Pole and two long ears popped out and surveyed the area. Deeming it clear, Bunny jumped out and stood tall in the wintery landscape; his hole closing soon after.

Bunny sneezed and hugged his body for warmth. "Gah, geez. Why can't North just live somewhere warm?" The Pooka then started his journey to Santoff Clausen and through the snow. As he went his voice echoed throughout the arctic desert. "Cold. COLD! I can't feel my feet! Ah, this is bloody déjà vu all over again! Can't feel my FEET!"

* * *

The Sandman, or Sandy, was over in his hidden island home checking up on a few things before he went off to give the children of Japan good dreams when he felt like something was wrong. Not horribly wrong like when North says that he feels it in his belly. That usually meant something really bad. No, this was more like something unknown was approaching. The thing was, Sandy didn't know if it was something good or bad.

Taking his chances, the Guardian of dreams looked out a window and saw the lights dancing across the sky telling him that he had to get to the North Pole. Sandy let out a silent sigh and turned some of his dream sand into an airplane. Setting his golden goggles over his equally golden eyes, the small man made of sand took off and headed north.

"_I hope there's a good reason why Nicholas is doing this again,"_ Sandy thought as he corrected his heading.

* * *

Everyone was arriving at the Pole in record time. North was pacing in his common office in front of the fireplace while the yetis worked on the gifts and tried to keep the elves out of trouble. Bunny came in and immediately snuggled into the warm glow of the fire as he brushed some snow off his shoulders. "Oi, mate, why are ya callin' us for this time? Please tell me it isn't so we can all just 'catch up'," Bunny said slightly irritated. Cold and he just didn't mix well; just look at him and Jack!

North shook his head but made no effort to make a verbal reply. Instead he resumed his pacing and the Pooka watched impatiently. The second to arrive was Tooth and her mini fairies. Tooth knew something was up, especially since North was anxious and pacing. However, she still had a job to do and ended up giving out orders to the tiny fairies.

Sandy was the last one to arrive with his golden dream sand plane dispersing as he landed. Several symbols flashed over his head. When he was done he crossed his arms and frowned while dream sand puffed out of his ears in annoyance. North didn't seem to take notice, but Bunny did.

"Sorry, mate," Bunny replied. "North called it. We know you were busy, but North wouldn't call if it wasn't important, right? Besides, don't you think that I'd rather be in my warren finishing Easter preparations, or Tooth in her palace or in the field collecting teeth, or even Frostbite…" Bunny paused and finally noticed that Jack had yet to arrive. Normally he would be in just a few moments after the Sandman, but he was nowhere in sight! Turning to the worrying Russian Bunny asked, "Where is Frostbite anyways?"

North paused as well and Tooth finally tuned into the conversation. Bunny was right; Jack wasn't there. North sighed and looked to his fellow guardians. "I am not sure," he finally said. "Manny sent me message only minutes ago. Something about us, children, Jack and Pitch."

"PITCH!" Bunny yelled standing to his full height in alarm. "Why would that buggar be back so soon? He's only been trapped for almost a year!"

Sandy made an image of Pitch out of dream sand before another figure – Jack – appeared next to it showing the two talking. Sandy looked to the rest of them with a question mark floating above his head. Tooth understood and voiced what she thought the golden man was saying. "Maybe Jack is talking to Pitch? Jack does go to check up on him," she supplied hopefully.

North rubbed his beard as if in thought but then shook his head. "No, the image of Jack wasn't near Pitch's image. Jack's wasn't even in entire focus. It was almost like it was fog on shadow, making it hard to see. I have bad feeling…" North said.

Bunny face-palmed and said "Let me guess…"

At the same time, both Guardians said, "In my/your belly."

North turned to the Pooka and said, "Exactly!"

Sandy nodded in agreement and made several sand images explaining that he had the same feeling not too long ago. Tooth's motherly instincts were kicking in and she started flying all over the place saying "what if Jack is in trouble? What if Pitch_ DID_ manage to break out of his lair? What if he captured Jack?! I'll knock more than just a tooth out of that man if he so much as hurts a single hair on Jack's head!"

It continued like this for some time until the moon's light came back into the room via the window and shone on the floor. The only one to take notice was Sandy of course and he tried to gain the other guardians' attention to no avail. With no elves to jingle, Sandy had to improvise; he brought out a sand whip and whipped at the ground once creating a silencing snap. The other three occupants in the room turned to their smallest friend in curiosity and slight annoyance.

That is, until they saw how annoyed he was. If there was one thing that they knew, it was to never piss off the man of dreams. Sandy allowed his whip to disappear and pointed to the moonlight shining through the window.

North laughed, but it seemed somewhat forced, and said "Sandy, why did you not tell us sooner?" Sandy scowled but knew that the larger man was just as worried if not more so for what was happening. "Manny, what is going on? Where is Jack and what does this have to do with Pitch and children?"

Instead of MiM giving them a reply through his voice or shadow pictures, he sent a person to them with a moonbeam. From the moonbeam came a boy that appeared to be about 20 in physical age. He wore a black suit that looked like some form or armour. Parts of the armour glowed like a star or the moon itself. He had pale skin along with matching hair and crystal blue eyes. The most extraordinary thing about him though was that he glowed. Everything about him just glowed and seemed to chase away the shadows in the room. In his hand was a staff that had a glowing dagger attached to one end.

For those that didn't know him, he was known as Nightlight; Man in the Moon's protector. Of course, the Guardians hadn't seen him in centuries since he usually stayed on the moon, but it was always good to see him. "Nightlight! To what do we owe the pleasure of seeing you again?" North asked in his thick accent.

Nightlight smiled at him and held up a note on clean white paper.

Tooth fluttered forward and asked, "Does it have to do with Jack? Is he in trouble?" She became even more worried as her previous thoughts came back to her.

Nightlight closed his eyes, but never lost his smile. Sandy noticed that it kind of looked like a sad smile, like the young man before them knew something they didn't; which was more than likely true. As the glowing being opened his eyes he held out the note to Tooth and she read it out loud, "Please go to Jack's pond and meet us there. There is something that you all should see."

Bunny was about to demand why, but Nightlight had already vanished to his next destination. The Pooka looked around the room and said the one thing on all their minds, "So, do we go? He pretty much said that this had to do with Frostbite and if the moon is tellin' us to go…" Bunny trailed off and let that linger in the air.

Sandy looked to Tooth and the two nodded before turning back to their furry friend. Sandy gave a 'thumbs up' while Tooth laughed and darted around the room in anticipation. Bunny smirked and looked to their leader to see he was in deep thought. Bunny nudged his arm and the Russian looked up and around to see his friends – no, his family – giving encouraging looks full of determination. North couldn't help but laugh and made to grab his gear from his desk. As soon as he was ready he walked towards the door and shouted, "Everyone! To the sleigh!"

Bunny grumbled, already feeling sick to his stomach at the mere thought of riding in the metal and wooden deathtrap.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the forest of Burgess there was a hole. No one knew where this hole came from or how long it had been there, but a hole was a hole and needed to be covered so that no one would accidentally fall into it. Centuries ago, some people put a bed frame over it to prevent such an accident. As the years wore on, the bed became cracked, old and damaged, but still continued with its original purpose. However, this wasn't just any hole; it was the entrance to the Boogieman's lair.

Normally, no one would even dare to go down into it for fear of never coming out. The only beings recently to wander in or out were Pitch Black himself and a certain winter sprite. Though for now, neither one was doing so, instead a glowing boy entered.

Nightlight came to the bed frame and looked at the old wood with slight curiosity and distaste. The hole underneath was darker than the night sky; one couldn't even see the bottom let alone a foot down. Sighing, the glowing immortal raised his staff and began removing a base board that was covering the hole. As soon as it was removed he jumped in and down.

For the most part, Pitch's lair was quite homey. Sure, it was dark and scary, but it still had that home quality to it. It was almost like a labyrinth with all the random path ways and stairs. There were tens of cages hanging from the ceiling and Nightlight frowned as he saw them. Oh, he knew about what had happen little under a year ago and he knew what those cages used to hold.

Nightlight looked over the edge of a bridge and saw darkness and shadows twisting about bellow him. The pit used to be filled with all the children's tooth boxes, but now it was just a pit full of sorrow and fear. Suddenly, several Fearling hands shot out of the pit and made to grab him. Nightlight silently cursed and sliced through all of them with his staff. The Fearlings screeched in pain and recoiled back into the darkness they once came from. Giving a sigh of relief the glowing being continued onward.

Nightlight was now more than ever on edge. Sure, he had expected to be attacked at least once, but that still wasn't very reassuring. Also, he was expecting to hear shouts of pain and agony echoing around the lair, but so far it had been deadly silent.

"_Did the Nightmares and Fearlings kill him off?"_ Nightlight wondered as he continued to search for the Nightmare King. The shadows couldn't hurt him and he knew that. The most they could really do was glare at him or even attempt to grab him. Nightlight saw one of the shadows near him shift and immediately shifted into a defensive position. A Nightmare, a horse made of nothing but fear and black sand, emerged from the shadows glared at the being of light.

It stood at least eight feet away, just out of reach of Nightlight's staff and light. The two continued to stare each other down before the mare snorted and looked off in another direction. Nightlight relaxed slightly and lowered his weapon. He also realised that he couldn't get near the creature unless he died down his light a bit. Focusing, Nightlight dimmed himself and now you could properly see his black suit instead of the whole thing being lit up like a Christmas tree. The mare snorted again and began walking off. It paused ten steps later and turned its head and glared with its golden eyes. It was then that the boy realised that the Nightmare wanted him to follow. He just hoped it was leading him to his intended target and not some trap.

Several minutes later, the two beings found themselves in what looked like a throne room. The colour scheme was gray, black and gold. It was a great hall with a long black and gold carpet travelling from the door to the throne. On the walls were tapestries with the image of a Nightmare and a Fearling clawing at what appeared to be a coffin with twin scythes crossed over the centre; Pitches preferred emblem. There were several lit torches around the room giving off a golden-silvery glow and casting deep shadows throughout the room. Off to one side of the room was a globe of belief; shinning with the many dots that represented the children of the world. Next to the throne was a small black table that held a cup full of what Nightlight presumed was wine since it was a jewel red. But it was who was sitting on the throne that interested him; Pitch Black.

He wore black robes that had a large 'v' neck that stopped just below his chest. His black hair was slicked back in a tamed but wild sort of state. His skin was a pale gray and his eyes shining with its unnatural gold colour. Currently, the Nightmare King was reading a book and seemed to not notice the two enter – that is until he smiled and showed his razor sharp teeth.

"Oh, who do we have here? Nightlight, it has been too long, _old friend_," the shade said practically spitting the last words as if they were venom. "When was the last time that we met like this? Hmm, possibly when I tried to…bring Tsar Lunar to my side, yes?"

Nightlight instantly scowled and his glow was starting to come back as his anger grew. The Nightmare had to trot back towards Pitch to avoid the harsh light. "Now, now, Nightlight, no need to blow a fuse." Pitch stated in his smooth English accent.

Nightlight took a deep breath and let it out slowly before his glow died down again. He glared at the man before him but withheld his rage at the memory. Pitch closed his book and set it aside before he stood up to view his unwanted guest. "Now, might I ask what you are doing here in my abode or do I have to get it out of you myself?" Nightlight was about to respond but Pitch held up a hand to silence him and said, "No wait, don't tell me. Lunar sent you to check up on me instead of Jack or you're here to do what my Nightmares and Fearlings couldn't do."

Nightlight huffed in annoyance and gave a 'are you serious?' face to the shade. True, he knew that his own creations and the being who made him who he was had dragged him back to his lair after the battle and had tortured him, but by the end of it Pitch had gained control of them not a month later and had just been regaining his strength. Of course, Jack would often pop in to see how he was doing. Jack may not like the man too much, but he couldn't just watch him suffer and be alone again like he had been. Jack had found that they held a lot in common once you got past the 'wanting to rule the world' thing.

Pitch walked down the steps of his throne and made his way to the globe and asked, "Well if it's none of that then why are you even here?" Pitch was obviously not a happy spirit. He did learn to enjoy the moments when Jack appeared, but this was something different. The first time Jack had showed up, Pitch was fighting off his own minions and seemed to be losing. Jack helped him out and they barely made it out alive. The only Nightmare to fight with them instead of against them was Pitch's trusted riding mare that he had name Onyx.

Onyx was a special Nightmare since she was the first one Pitch had ever made. She was like the other Nightmares except she was slightly bigger and had tints of gold and blue swirling in her body while the others were usually black with hints of silver. She was loyal to the Nightmare King and to him alone. Onyx also usually kept the other Nightmares and Fearlings in line when Pitch was busy with something else. She was almost like the second in command.

Onyx trotted over to the shade a nuzzled his hand to calm him down. Pitch took little notice as he turned to glare at the living light bulb that was standing in his home. Nightlight shifted uncomfortably on his feet. He didn't usually speak, but today would have to be an acceptation.

Pulling at the collar of his suit, Nightlight cleared his throat and spoke for the first time in a long time. "Excuse the interruption, but I have a request from Man in the Moon."

Pitch cocked an eyebrow and started to laugh as if he had heard the world's funniest joke. Nightlight frowned. He had expected an outcome like this but was really hoping that it wouldn't have happened. When Pitch finally caught his breath he said, "Oh, you're serious. Why would I ever do something that Lunar told me to do? I'm older than him and he and I do **not** get along."

Nightlight leaned on his staff and pinched the bridge of his nose. Yep, exactly as he foresaw this event. Looking back at the shade he replied, "It's not a matter of whether you and he 'get along' as you say. It's to benefit you and the others in understanding Jack Frost a little more than you already do. Answer me this, has Jack ever come forward about his problems? When he's with you or the Guardians? When he finally got his memory of his past life, did anyone comfort him or anything when he found out?"

Pitch considered these words. No, if Jack had a problem he would keep it bottled up until he burst like when he complained about always being alone or Pitch would figure it out based on what his fears were. As far as he knew from listening and watching Jack for the past year, Jack didn't tell the Guardians anything about his problems and only came out a little to him when he sensed something was wrong. Pitch took little pride in knowing that Jack trusted him more with some information about himself than with the Big Four. And when had Jack gotten his memories back? Maybe back in Antarctica when he was in that pit. The child did still have his tooth box then and that insufferable fairy had been with him.

Shaking his head of the thoughts, Pitch scoffed and said, "What does that have to do with anything. That's the way Jack has been for years."

"Is that so? Are you truly sure about that?" Nightlight asked. When Pitch didn't answer he continued. "Look, Pitch. Jack may not say it but I'm sure you've notice how calm he is around you and how after the whole incident last year he was the one to see if you were alright. He cares about you like he would family." Nightlight paused smiling at his small hint. "All I'm say is wouldn't it be nice to understand where Jack comes from and why he is the way he is?"

Pitch thought for a moment. Yes, it would be nice to know where this boy had come from and why he was made a spirit at such a young age. Heck, he felt he had known him from somewhere before their meeting at the Tooth Palace, but he just couldn't place where. Deciding that this was probably very beneficial for him, Pitch spun on his heel and strutted up to the other spirit before demanding, "Where?"

Nightlight smiled brightly for the first time at the Nightmare king and said, "Meet us at Jack's pond." Judging from the confused and sour face that the shade made, Nightlight elaborated and said, "The pond in Burgess that presented your final stand."

Pitch nodded and turned back to his throne mumbling something under his breath about how that pond was always frozen and a certain annoying winter spirit. Speaking of, Nightlight had to go find some more people before finding Jack and bringing him to his pond. With that, Nightlight raced out of the shadowed lair.

* * *

The sleepy little town of Burgess was just waking up from a long night full of sweet dreams. As always, the sun raised high and spread its warmth across then snow covered town. Spring was on its way and soon the snow would have to say good bye until next winter. However, seven children were going to make the most of it while it lasted.

Jamie Bennett – the first child to believe in Jack Frost – squinted his eyes to try and block the sunlight from disturbing his dreams. Unfortunately, his younger sister, Sophie, had different plans and wanted to play with her brother in the snow. Sophie crawled onto his bed and started jumping on it in hopes of waking him up.

"Jamie, Jamie, Jamie," Sophie chanted as she jumped. She had recently turned four and was eager to explore their town; especially in winter and spring since he favourite two Guardians held power in those seasons. These Guardians of course being Jack Frost and the Easter Bunny.

Jamie groaned and buried his head under his pillow in hopes of getting her to leave. It didn't work; she was even more persistent now. Jamie lifted his head and sleepily said, "Sophie, please let me sleep some more. It's the weekend for Pete's sake."

Sophie pouted and said, "But I want to play outside. Winter's almost over."

Jamie sighed but knew his sister was right. Winter was almost over; he just wished Jack would come around one last time this year so that they could play. Maybe take another amazing sled ride around town. Jamie may be 11 now, but he still believed in all the childhood myths just like his friends did. He wasn't sure he would ever stop believing.

Sitting up in bed and forcing his sister to stop bouncing, Jamie smiled and said, "Ok, I'll take you out. We can meet up with my friends and have ourselves a big snowball fight. Agreed?"

Sophie smiled back and nodded her head happily. "Agreed!" she exclaimed and tackled her brother into a hug. Jamie laughed but soon broke the hug and told her to leave so that he could get ready. Sophie raced out of the room exclaiming that she was going to play in the snow with 'Jack-Jack' who apparently was 'snowy'. Jamie chuckled at his sister's antics and started his morning routine.

He brushed his teeth and hair, got dressed, ate a small breakfast and explained to his mother what they were going to do for the day. Ms. Bennett laughed and said to have fun. Jamie nodded and was pulled through the door by his sister who was giggling and trying to make him move faster.

"Be careful," their mother said from the doorway as she watched her kids leave to play.

Jamie turned to face her and said back, "we will." With that the two Bennett kids left to find their friends.

The first house they came to was Pippa's. They were surprised when they saw Cupcake there too. Apparently they had a sleepover the previous night and had woken up early so that they could enjoy the last bit of winter before spring took over completely. Jamie explained his plan and the two girls agreed to come along.

Then Pippa said, "We should split up and grab the others then meet at the park. Then we can have some fun."

Cupcake and Jamie nodded in agreement. "I'll get the twins," proclaimed Cupcake and before anyone could say anything she was off.

Jamie turned to Pippa and said, "I guess that means we should get Monty."

Pippa shrugged and said, "I guess so." She turned to Sophie and said, "come on, if we're going to play we need to drag that bookworm out of bed." Sophie giggled and followed the two eleven year olds to their next destination.

No more than half an hour later, the seven kids arrived in the park and were ready for a snowball fight. They got into groups of two with one group of three since Sophie was there. Team one was the twins; Caleb and Claude. They high fived and said that their teamwork would 'annihilate' everyone else. Monty rolled his eyes at the idea while everyone else giggled. Team two was Monty and Cupcake. And that left Team three to be made up of Jamie, Sophie and Pippa.

They were about to spread out and make their forts when a bright light shone off to the side and blinded them. Claude was the first to recover and said, "Man, that is the brightest nightlight I have ever seen."

Caleb agreed with his brother until they heard a voice. "Thank you. I try to stay bright since it is in my nature."

The twins looked around with wide eyes until they both landed on a man of about 20 wearing a black suit, holding a staff and glowed. Both of them said the same thing, "Wooooooow."

Everyone else recovered and looked around for what was so amazing but came up with nothing. "Guys, what are you looking at?" Monty asked and readjusted his glasses.

"At the glowing man. Don't you see him?" Caleb asked. When everyone besides his brother shook their head Jamie came to a realisation.

"You're a spirit like Jack Frost, aren't you," he stated more than actually questioned. Everyone was now excited to meet this new spirit, but first they had to see him which meant they had to believe in him. But how do you do that when you don't even know who you're dealing with?

Nightlight knew that the others couldn't see him but he smiled anyways. He was as excited to be seen at all just like Jack was when Jamie first saw him. He held out a note to the twins and Claude grabbed it. To the others, it looked like it came out of thin air. Opening the note he read, "My name is Nightlight. There is not much you need to know about me at the moment, but if it will put your minds at ease, I was the one who originally defeated Pitch Black and sealed him in his lair. I wish for you all to go to the frozen pond in the woods where you last encountered the Guardians and meet the rest of us there. The only thing you need to know is that this will help you understand Jack Frost a little more."

When he finished reading it to his friends they all gasped at the sight of Nightlight. He smiled and waved at them before he pointed to the forest that held the pond. He then took off for his final pick up and this one would likely be the hardest.

Jamie looked to his friends as he considered the invitation. He smiled at the thought of learning more about his favourite Guardian and smiled. The rest of his friends smiled too, coming to the same realisation and idea. Sophie looked hopefully up at her brother, not entirely understanding what was going on other than that she might get to see the Guardians again. Sophie tugged at Jamie's jacket and asked, "Bunny? Jack-Jack?"

Jamie laughed and started to move towards the forest and the pond hidden within. Leading his sister he said, "yeah, we're gonna see them soon." Sophie squealed and ran forward in an attempt to get Jamie to move faster.

The other kids looked at each other before laughing and chasing after the duo shouting, "Hey, wait for us!"

* * *

Jack was lounging back in a tree and was enjoying the early glints of dawn coming over the horizon. He was currently in the United States and kicking back in Washington watching some early risers walked through the light snow. The moon was still out but the sun was just coming over the horizon. He would likely leave soon to go and visit Jamie one last time before the season was over. For now, however, he just wanted a little peace and quiet.

Jack snuggled into the tree and started to fall asleep when I bright light shone down into his face. Jack held up his hand to block some of the light and tried to see through his fingers; which still didn't help him see who was creating the light.

When the light vanished, Jack saw a familiar figure sitting on a spear-like staff smiling back at him. Jack's eyes lit up with excitement and exclaimed, "Nightlight!" before pouncing on him to give a happy hug. Jack laughed loudly while Nightlight gave his usual silent laughter.

Jack pulled back and smiled at the glowing being. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you since that month after the Pitch incident," Jack exclaimed happily. Nightlight smiled at the frost sprite and ruffled the boy's hair. "Hey!" he cried while trying to smooth out his messed up hair. Although, whether Nightlight had ruffled Jack's hair or not didn't really change the outcome of the look of the white locks.

Jack recalled the memory of their first meeting quite well.

_It had all happened about a month after defeating Pitch; Jack had been having some doubts about being a Guardian and had gone to Antarctica to think. It had been his favourite place to go other than his home town to just let his mind go blank and enjoy the view. He had gone to the shoreline of the landmass to watch the moonlight on the waters._

_Jack had been feeling so confused about his role in the world. He looked to the moon and asked for some advice, but as usual, the moon didn't answer him back. Sighing, Jack lay down in the snow and listened to the waves and the wind. He had heard wolves earlier and didn't mind when a few had settled around him. In fact, he loved the wild dogs like family oddly enough. There were two adults along with two pups; one of them being older and had a speckled pattern on his head in the shape of a snowflake. It was kind of funny; they reminded him of his own family from 300 years ago. However, it was when the father of the pack started to growl that Jack sat up and became alert._

_The wolf was growling to the area behind him so Jack turned his head and pointed his staff at whatever the threat was. When he saw that the threat was just a kid a little older than him, he questioned what was so…well, threatening. He looked like a normal guy to him; that is, until he noticed that the other was glowing and holding a staff as well as the fact that he was in a frozen wasteland and only certain beings could survive._

_Becoming curious, Jack asked, "Who are you?" The being didn't say anything, but somehow Jack just knew and smiled up to the older man. The wolves noticed the change of attitude and relaxed again. Jack turned back to view the ocean and said, "So, you're Nightlight huh?"_

_Nightlight nodded and sat down next to the frost spirit and joined in watching the ocean. Jack talked about his growing worries and he didn't know why. It was a weird feeling; like he could talk about anything to the newcomer and the other wouldn't mind, but rather stay by him like a sibling would in hard times. Jack smiled at that and Nightlight seemed to have the same feeling because he pulled Jack into a hug and then continued with a noogie._

Jack chuckled at the memory. They had truly been like brothers ever since that day and seemed to know when something was up with the other. Nightlight didn't say a word and Jack sighed realising that this might not be the day that he would finally hear the other boy's voice. "Well, I've got to get going. You know, got to spread some final touches to winter before spring takes over," Jack said dusting off his pants.

Nightlight seemed to have different plans for the winter sprit, however, since he grabbed the boy's wrist and started to gently drag him through the air in the direction of Burgess. Jack frowned and said, "Hey! Wha-what are you doing Nightlight? I can get home on my own just fine you know."

Nightlight didn't respond and just kept moving forward. Jack became rather annoyed and wrenched his arm out of the older boy's hand and demanded, "alright, Nightlight. What's going on?"

The glowing being looked to the spirit that he treated like a brother and sighed. He had to get him back to the pond in Burgess for this to work and MiM was counting on him. Nightlight looked back at Jack with a pleading look in his eyes, hoping that Jack would just come willingly. Jack didn't know what was up, but the look in the other spirit's eyes told him that it was important and so Jack reluctantly nodded and said, "Fine! Let's go to…where ever it is you want to take me. Just…just stop giving me that look, ok?"

Nightlight smiled warmly and motioned for Jack to follow him. Groaning, Jack complied and floated after the glowing spirit to Burgess Woods and to his pond.

* * *

The first to arrive at the pond was Sophie who dragged Jamie to try and go faster, followed by the rest of the Burgess kids. The pond was frozen like it always was, which now that they thought about it was very strange since it was like this all year round. A few rocks and boulders protruded through the ice making what looked like mini islands and the trees surrounding the body of water had a combination of frost and spring buds on the branches. It was beautiful.

Sophie squealed when she saw the frozen pond and was about to run onto it; that is until Jamie grabbed her around the middle and stopped her.

"Noooooo," Sophie whined. "Want to skate, want to skate!" she complained over and over as she tried to escape from her brother.

Jamie struggled for a moment before he got a better grip. "You can't, Soph. I know that Jack likes to be here and all but it's getting warmer out so the ice might be thinning," Jamie reasoned.

Sophie looked at him confused before he explained, "the ice could break and you might fall in."

The four years old gasped in both fear and understanding and allowed her brother to pull her away from the surface. Unfortunately, that small bit of fear had escaped and a sigh of content was heard on the other side of the pond. Everyone turned to the sound and stared in shock and disbelief because standing there was none other than the Boogieman; Pitch Black.

"I never thought that I would be back to this place so soon," Pitch mused as he looked across the water's surface in what seemed to be a daze. "Although, seeing _and _feeling fear so early in the morning is just a bonus to this occasion, don't you think?" He looked at all the fearful and shocked looks of the children and smirked. He hadn't been expecting the children to be present but he certainly wasn't complaining; he was receiving such an energy boost from the seven of them alone.

Jamie seemed to be the first to come back to his senses and stood before the group; standing tall and hoping that he looked brave. Sophie gripped his jacket and whimpered as she buried her face into his side. Placing a protective hand on his sister, Jamie demanded, "What are you doing here Pitch? I thought-"

"That those so-called Guardians had beaten me and sent me back to my lair? At first, yes they had, but not for long," Pitch explained. "Now, what are you and your annoying friends doing here?"

Jamie growled and was about to make a snappy remark when Pippa beat him to it. "Yeah, well we could ask you the same question, Boogieman," she exclaimed.

Pitch's golden eyes flashed menacingly and the shadows seemed to grow behind him as he glided across the ice towards the group. "I'd watch what you say if I were you, girl. Or else – gah!"

An exploding Easter egg shot through the air and exploded next to the Nightmare King sending him back along with a cloud of colourful smoke.

"Or else you'll what, mate?" a voice called from above.

Everyone looked up and saw a familiar sleigh caring Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and the Easter Bunny. Said bunny was perched on the side of the sleigh with another egg at the ready while the others seemed shocked – just like the kids had been – to see Jamie and his friends along with Pitch.

Pitch dusted himself off and grunted in response to the question. Sophie caught sight of 'her bunny' and reached to the sky shouting, "Bunny! Bunny! Hop, hop, hop!"

Jamie laughed but suddenly frowned. He looked at the sleigh again and noticed one Guardian missing; Jack. He looked over at Pitch and saw that he notice the winter spirit's absence as well. North landed the wooden structure at the pond's edge and everyone climbed out. They made their way over to the children and Tooth asked, "Is everyone alright?"

When everyone nodded she gave a sigh of relief and turned her attention to the shade just a short distance away. "What are you doing here, Pitch?" she demanded, using her queen-like authority in her voice. Baby Tooth – who had tagged along while the rest of the fairies returned to their duties – started to squeak in an equally annoyed tone.

"And what have ya done with Jack?" Bunny demanded.

Everyone stared at the Pooka in confusion and so he said, "Well this is Jack's pond; therefor he should be here already unless _someone_ did somethin' to him."

Pitch scoffed and said, "And you believe that I did something just because I'm here now, am I correct?"

"Am I wrong? You're always up ta somethin'," Bunny countered.

Pitch narrowed his eyes and retaliated, "since when am I to blame for something being wrong? It's not my fault…this time."

"You bloody liar; it's always your fault!" Bunny said.

By now the two were in the middle of the frozen pond and were practically butting heads as they continued to argue. North and Tooth continued to guard the kids in case things went south and Sandy was watching the two spirits fight; preparing to step in if need be.

However, Sandy noticed something in the sky followed by a gust of cool wind. Turning his attention up, he saw two figures with staffs flying toward them. Identifying them to be Nightlight and Jack Frost, the man of dreams tried to gain everyone's attention. The only one who seemed to notice was Pitch and he was in the middle of dodging a boomerang. He jumped back and took the moment to look to where Sandy was pointing. From the brief glance he was able to see the two figures approaching, but it also allowed Bunny to get a hit in and knock him to the ground.

"Ha! I think your age is startin' to catch up ta ya, mate. I wasn't even tryin' that hard," Bunny exclaimed happily.

His victory was short lived, however, since Jack and Nightlight landed on the pond taking in the scene. Let's just say that neither one of them was amused at the moment. Jack was the first to speak, saying, "What in the name of MiM is going on here?"

Pitch stood to his full height and said, "Ask the kangaroo. He's the one who threw the first blow."

Jack couldn't help but snicker at the fact that Pitch –his enemy – had just used his term for Bunny, but then he became serious. Jack turned to 'the kangaroo' with crossed arms and waited. Bunny stared in disbelief and stutter, "Me?! Y-y-you're really gonna say that it was me? I was protecting those kids from-from you! Y-you're the one that provoked this whole thing."

Pitched scoffed again and smugly said, "Who was it that said that it was always my fault and that I had done something to Jack even though I haven't seen or heard from him in about a month?"

Suddenly, the Nightmare King and the Easter Bunny got into another verbal fight. Sandy was prepare to knock them both out when Nightlight put a hand on the little man's shoulder and shook his head. He then pointed to himself and Jack. Sandy nodded in understanding and stood back to allow them some room.

Jack looked at the two and said questioningly, "You take Bunny…and I'll take Pitch?"

Nightlight nodded and the two got a pair of mischievous smiles on their faces. Nightlight held his staff out and allowed a stream of light to fly out and wrap around the unsuspecting Pooka; easily capturing him in what looked like shining ribbons of light. Pitch was surprised and faced the being responsible before he too was wrapped in a set of bonds, but these ones were made of ice and frost. Pitch redirected his glare to the teen standing next to him.

Jack laughed nervously and took a step back. "Let. Me. Go," said Pitch in a dangerous tone that gave no room to argue.

Jack gulped and said, "Only if you don't attack…anyone." Pitch growled but nodded all the same. Jack sighed in relief and released the shade from the icy bonds. Nightlight had apparently made a similar agreement with Bunny because he was releasing him from the bonds of light.

Right then, everyone who had stayed on the pond's edges for fear of the ice breaking came over. North and Tooth were helping Bunny while Sandy greeted Jack. Sandy had sort of known that Jack would likely be the last to arrive, but he hadn't expected everything else to happen. He didn't know why the Burgess kids were here and especially didn't know why Pitch was too. Unfortunately, he had a feeling that he'd find out soon enough.

Jamie and Sophie were the first of the kids to reach the centre ice and immediately jumped onto Jack and Bunny respectively. Jack and Jamie laughed as they fell to the ground while Bunny picked up Sophie and asked, "how ya been, ya little ankle-bitter?" Sophie just giggled.

Once everyone was fine again – with exception to the fact that everyone, minus Sandy and Jack, was becoming uneasy with Pitch's presence – Jack finally asked, "Sooooo, why did you basically call everyone close to me to my pond, Nightlight?"

Nightlight looked at the winter sprite and then to the moon and back. It was still early so the moon could still be seen in the sky. Jack looked at the moon as well but was still confused. What? Did the moon need to tell him something? It hadn't really done that at all for him in the past, so why start now? Nightlight sighed and cleared his throat.

"Jack," he said. "Man in the moon wishes that everyone here knows more about you; to understand where you come from."

Nightlight stared at Jack and Jack did the same back. His eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly open. Nightlight thought that maybe Jack understood where this was going with this. What Jack said next proved him wrong. "Oh my god! You really can talk!" he said with a huge grin on his face. Obviously, Jack had failed to take the main message away from his words.

Instead, North spoke up asking, "What do you mean 'understand where he comes from'? We each know Jack well enough, da?"

Nightlight shook his head and said, "Sadly, you barely know anything about him. Even Pitch knows more than any of you do, and please don't ask about that. Really, only few know everything about Jack and it isn't any of you - so you do not know what he has gone through."

"Hey! Don't speak like I'm not even here. I'm not invisible…anymore," Jack said slightly depressed and annoyed by the end.

Tooth thought about it for a moment and realised that Nightlight was right; they barely knew anything about Jack because he didn't like talking about himself too much. Sure, they had learned what he liked and disliked as well as a few things that were somewhat personal, but not much after that. Determined to find out more she asked, "And how would we do this? Jack isn't likely to just open up all of a sudden."

The other Guardians nodded in agreement and Jack pouted. He didn't like where this was going; he could feel it! Pitch figured where this conversation was heading and smirked; oh, he would certainly enjoy this. The Burgess kids were all but lost, but if it meant learning more about one of their favourite spirits they wanted to know too.

Nightlight smiled and said, "Man in the moon will show all of you Jack's memories from before becoming a Guardian - or even a spirit for that matter."

Before he could say more, Jack's eyes widened with a combination of realisation, shock and fear. Now he really, _really_ didn't like where this was going. "Oooooh no. No, no, no, no, NO! No way! I didn't agree to this! I don't want them to see my past; it's the one thing that is mine, and mine alone!" Jack cried. "I'm out of here!"

Jack flew up with aid from the wind and was about to fly off to who knows where to avoid everything. Unfortunately, the moon had different idea and had Nightlight go after him. It was a fantastic chase across the sky and over the pond as the spectators watched from below. Jack eventually made a dive towards the pond with the soldier right behind him. Just before he hit the ground he pulled up and zoomed right past Pitch only avoiding him by a few centimeters. Nightlight did a similar move but was closer to Bunny when it happened. Unlike Pitch, the air travelling by from Nightlight caused him to lose his balance and fall on the ground. The kids giggled and continued to watch as Nightlight tried to catch the runaway spirit.

"Nightlight! Leave me alone! I don't want them to see! They don't need to!" Jack tried to reason.

"I can't do that Jack," Nightlight replied. "MiM wants them to and I can't deny his wishes. Please just come back down. I promise nothing bad will happen. I'll be there with you all the way!"

Jack shook his head and was about to call on the wind for help when he felt something snare his leg. Looking down he saw that the glowing being had managed to get a ribbon made of light around his ankle. The only thing running through Jack's mind was _"No, no, no, no, no, no! Game Over! No, no, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening. Please, NO!"_

Pitch was the only one to hear the boy's mental pleads and felt somewhat sorry for him, but there was nothing he could do at the moment. The bonds started to snake around Jack's body and soon he was being dragged back down to the ice. Nightlight sat him down so that the spirit could sit cross-legged but couldn't run off again.

Jack pouted and mumbled something about hating Nightlight and trapping him in a giant jar later. Nightlight sighed and said, "As I was saying, MiM will show all of you Jack's memories."

"What about Jack?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah," Monty joined in, pushing his glasses up again. "Is Jack going to be seeing his memories too?"

Jack glared at Nightlight and Nightlight sighed. "Actually, Jack will be…um, sort of reliving his memories. He won't be able to talk to you during the time that you watch. No, I'll be watching over Jack while you all see the memories. That is why Jack needs to be present, however."

"This is so not fair," Jack yelled and thrashed in an attempt to get the bonds off. Unfortunately for him, it just resulted in him falling onto his back and grumbling under his breath.

Everyone debated if they should follow through and watch or not. Surprisingly, it was Sophie who spoke up first and said, "I want to know more about Jack-Jack. He's like a second older brother!"

Jamie stared at his sister and then looked to Jack. He had only known the teen for a year, yet he knew almost nothing about him. He too wanted to know, but he wanted Jack to be ok with it. Jack made eye contact with the Bennett kids and made a slight nod of his head that no one else saw. Gaining the courage he needed, Jamie said, "I do too. I want to know more about Jack."

"Same here," exclaimed Pippa.

"Me to," said Monty.

Cupcake shuffled slightly and said, "why not?"

Caleb and Claude said at the same time, "we're in!"

Nightlight nodded and then turned to the spirits who seemed to still be thinking about it. North and Tooth looked worried like a pair of parents that didn't know what to do. Bunny's ear twitched and Sandy was looking at the ground. Pitch seemed fine but Jack could tell that he wasn't sure if he wanted to either. Jack flipped off his back and landed on his feet. The movement seemed to gain both dream-weavers' attentions. First the winter sprite's eyes locked with the Nightmare King's and then with the Guardian of dreams.

Pitch smiled with pride as he saw Jack accept the fact that it was going to happen and said, "I'd love to."

Jack snorted in amusement just as Sandy nodded his head. Once they had both agreed, everyone else seemed to come to terms and accepted as well.

Nightlight smiled and said, "Well then, this is where Jack and I say farewell for now."

Jack was stunned and said, "Hey, wait! At least let me say-" but before he could finish his sentence, the two had disappeared in a flash of light leaving everyone else on the pond.

Everyone blinked and wondered how they were supposed to see the memories. The next thing they knew, the moon had made a full appearance and everyone started to disappear in similar bursts of light. It had started with the kids, then the Guardians and soon only Pitch was left.

The shade looked up at the moon with slight distaste. "So it begins. I hope you know what you're doing, _old friend_," Pitch said before he too was engulfed in light and taken to Jack Frost's memories.

* * *

**Phantom: So there you have it everyone. Chapter one is done.**

**Trainer: Where was I when you were writing this?**

**Phantom: In the room with me, but you thought it was the next chapter to **_**Ghostly Reunions**_**. I never said that it was I just said that I was writing a chapter.**

**Trainer: You're evil sometimes, you know that?**

**Phantom: Yep! Anyways, so just so everyone knows, we are both out of school now and done with our exams. So expect some more chapters to be coming out!**

**Trainer: Yeah! My chapter for my story on my page (Spirit Trainer) will be out soon too!**

**Phantom: Tell me what you think and if you have an idea for a memory that you want to see, tell me and I might add it in!**

**Jack: I can't believe that I agreed to this. Do you all hate me or something?**

**Pitch: No one hates you, Jack. We're all just…curious. *smiles***

**Phantom: Yeah, what he said. *smiles somewhat like a Cheshire cat***

**Jack: Well I know who you're siding with. Darn it.**

**Trainer: See you all later!**

**P.S. If the moon tells you something; believe it!**


	2. Chapter 2: Meet Jack Frost

**Phantom: Hey everybody! I just had to update again because of the rapid success of this story! 19 reviews and its only been a few days! So, I want to thank all of you for it.**

**Trainer: I don't have a clue as to what is going on…**

**Jack: HEY! Who reviewed twice?**

**Pitch: That was a guest named Angeline.**

**Phantom: Correct as always, Pitch. **

**Trainer: Pitch is almost never right. Don't say that.**

**Phantom: Anyways, Angeline has a lot of enthusiasm towards this fanfiction and I love it! However, I would like to point out that I do need time to write chapters and I have another story that I need to get back to as well.**

**Trainer: Sooooo, basically you're saying that you won't be updating the other story? NOOOOOOOO! Zekrom! Attack!**

***Phantom fades into the shadows and then reappears***

**Phantom: Thank you, Pitch. And to answer you; I will be updating the other story, but first I want to get this one out of the way. So if you are reading my other story, don't worry, the next chapter will be made soon. I just need to get the chapter straight in my head.**

**Jack: Not that this isn't entertaining…no, wait, that exactly what this is. ON WITH THE STORY!**

**Pitch: You heard the boy, get on with it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Rise of the Guardians; the plot is mine as well as some characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Meet Jack Frost**

* * *

For when looking at the memories:

_Italic_ – Memories

_**Bold Italic**_ – Thoughts in Memories

Regular – Everyone else

* * *

"-Something before we…disappear," Jack said before he realised that Nightlight had already teleported them. _"Great, I didn't even to warn them,"_ Jack thought. Nightlight had teleported them to a new location and the movement had resulted in the frost sprite to be sprawled onto the floor. Lifting himself into a sitting position, he looked around to get an idea as to where they were.

It was white, but not obnoxiously so. In fact, it was almost like Jack was looking at freshly fallen snow sculpted into what appeared to be a home of some sort. Every so often there was also a splash of blue in different shades, but otherwise stayed within the colour them for winter. Realising that he was still on the floor, Jack stood up and surveyed his surroundings again but in greater depth.

They were standing in an entrance hall; a large one at that. The walls were white as snow and looked almost regal, like the place was a palace. There were pillars, all made of ice at least ten inches thick and looking like crystal, lining the hall up to the grand staircase. Each pillar had carved images of snowflakes in them from closer inspection. The railings to the stairs were also made of ice while the stairs were made out of wood. The floors were white marble and Jack absently thought of how perfect it would be to slide on the surface as it was ice. Leading from the grand wooden doors behind him to the stairs was a long fluffy blue carpet lined with silver threading. Finally, hanging from the ceiling was a chandelier made of icicles, snowflakes and iron. It was beautiful; it almost looked like a shooting star when it sparkled.

*sigh*

Jack was brought out of his musings from the sound and turned to see Nightlight smiling happily before he started off towards the stairs. Jack followed since he had no idea where he was.

"So, quick question," Jack started, hoping to coax the other spirit into talking. When said spirit looked at him, he continued, "Where are we? Not that I don't love the décor or anything, but this just doesn't seem to be…" Jack faded off, trying to find the right words.

"My style?" Nightlight supplied.

"Yeah!" Jack said happily.

Nightlight chuckled and said, "Well, this isn't exactly my home, but I do visit often when I'm around."

"Wait…this isn't your home? Then whose is it?" Jack asked while looking around for a hidden danger.

The glowing being chuckled again but kept his mouth shut. "You'll see," was his only reply.

Jack grumbled a 'fine' and they kept moving. At the top of the stairs, Jack saw a long hallway that stretched in three directions; left, right and forward. Nightlight continued forward and the winter spirit followed. The hallways were like the main entrance in décor but they also had a few stands with flowers and armour standing along the walls. Jack saw that there were many doors and wondered where they all lead to.

Coming into a foyer before two large open doors, Jack gasped at the sight. There were tapestries hanging from the ceiling with the image of a white bird and an equally white wolf circling a snowflake with two Shepherd's crooks crossed over it. Jack stared at it for the longest time just taking in the detail of the silver/white tread stitched into the blue fabric. He couldn't explain why, but it felt like he had seen that symbol before.

"Admiring my crest are you?" a voice said from behind him. Jack yelped and spun around so fast that the force made him spin in circles before he finally felt on his behind. Looking up, Jack saw a man he wasn't sure he would ever see again from just over 150 years ago; Christopher Frost – a.k.a. Old Man Winter and King of the winter season.

Christopher laughed at the amazing, but clumsy, display of the younger winter spirit and said, "It's been much too long since we last saw each other, Jack. How are you these days?"

Jack chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment as frost made its way over his cheeks. "I'm well. Wait…is this…your home?" Jack asked with a glimmer of hope that it was. He had met the King of Winter a handful of times in his past, but he had never found his home; and Christopher had said that it was always open to him – if he could find it that is.

Holding out his hand, Old Man Winter pulled the young spirit to his feet and said, "That it is. Glad you could finally find it. It's not every day that someone finds their way out to the Ice Palace."

Jack thought about this and deemed it true enough. The Ice Palace, as he was told in his hint 150 years ago, was stationed somewhere in Antarctica away from prying eyes and annoying spirits. Not even North knew where it was!

Jack smiled up at the King and took in his features. He was very similar to Jack since he was a lean build, had white hair, pale skin and blue eyes; although his eyes were more sky blue than the electric icy blue that Jack had. His clothing was a little out-dated and looked like a combination of 1700's wear with a regal twist. He wore long black pants that were neatly tucked into furry shoes, all of which had a nice layer of frost on the edges. His shirt was like the one Jack had first been born in and was stark white. He had a deep blue jacket that adorned his shoulders like a cape with the same crest on the back and similar frost patterns that were on Jack's sweater along the openings of the fabric. On his head was a crown made of ice and in his hand was a shepherd's crook with a crystal dangling from the tip. All in all, he certainly pulled of the 'kingly' look.

The two winter spirits were soon pulled out of their daze when Nightlight cleared his throat and said, "I hate to interrupt, but I believe there is much to discuss while the others view Jack's memories. Don't you agree, Christopher?"

Blushing in embarrassment, Christopher chuckled and nodded his head. "Come, come, we'll discuss this in the den." He started to usher the two boys along to where the supposed room was.

As they went, Jack couldn't shake the feeling that he knew Old Man Winter from somewhere. Even the name struck an air of familiarity in him. Obviously he knew the man, but it felt like they had met before he became a Guardian and before he had become a winter sprite; like he knew him from his life back in the 1700's. The answer was somewhere in his memories, and he was determined to find it. So, with this goal in mind, he followed after the King of Winter.

* * *

The first thing everyone noticed when the bright flash died down was that they were in a forest in the middle of autumn. There were millions of trees each sporting the beautiful colours that came with the season.

While the Guardians hadn't a clue as to where they were, the Burgess kids had an idea as to their location while Pitch knew exactly where they were. Chuckling at the thought, he moved to stand before the group and spread his arms wide to take in as much of the scenery as he could as he exclaimed, "Lady and gentlemen, boys and girls…Kangaroo, welcome to Jack Frost's memories dating back to, and I'm only guessing this, around the 1700's Burgess."

All the children's eyes widened at the mention that Jack was from the same town as them, but none happier than Jamie and his sister Sophie. The celebration was cut short, however, when Bunny smugly said, "And how would you know the time and place, Boogieman?"

Thinking that he had caught the bluff, Bunny waited for the explanation with a smirk firmly planted on his face. To his surprise, Pitch didn't even seem deterred and said, "I spent much of my time during this era to the present in Burgess and around the woods of the small town. I'd recognize it anywhere."

Bunny was about to retort when Jamie beat him to it. "Actually, I think Pitch is right."

Everyone was shocked by this and stared at the boy. Jamie, starting to feel nervous and needing to explain himself, said, "I mean, um…well, this area does look familiar even if there's more trees than I normally see and Jack does hang around Burgess a lot so why wouldn't he have…you know, started off in the area?"

Everyone considered this and agreed – some more reluctantly than others. Eventually, Bunny's ears perked up and he started to look around. North noticed first and asked, "What do you hear?"

Bunny didn't answer right away and this made everyone on edge. Even though it was a memory, none of them wanted to be caught off guard should something jump out of the woods. Bunny tensed up slightly and furrowed his brow in confusion before he turned his head in the direction of the sound and said, "It's…music…and people's voices."

"Maybe it's the town!" Pippa said excitedly. If this was the past then she wanted to see what their town looked like back then. Museums were just so boring and didn't make anything come alive for her. The other kids had similar thoughts and immediately raced off in the last direction Bunny had looked.

The five immortals looked at each other and Pitch said with a smirk, "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to see what was going on in one of my favourite time periods and possibly see little Jackie." With that, he sauntered off towards the town.

Sandy, not wanting to miss out and to make sure Pitch didn't cause any trouble, followed after the Nightmare King; the other three Guardians trailing after.

When they got to the town – which was more like a village really – all the kids gasped and the twins said, "wooooooow" for the second time that day. Everything was made of wood. From the log cabins that the towns folk lived in to the carts and wagons that were used to carry goods. It was morning out, so men, women and children of all ages were out and about working or just playing around.

Pitch and Sandy had arrived next and took in the town as well. It was just as they remembered it from over 300 years ago. Moments later, the last three arrived on the scene. This was about the time that the town had really just started out. A few colonists came and made a home out in the woods. Wood was plentiful, there was a pond and stream nearby for water and the woods were full of big and little game for food. It was a perfect settlement for the town.

Jamie looked around and thought about how much the town had changed, but then he realised something. "Um, guys?" He called. "Where's Jack? These are his memories, so…shouldn't he be here somewhere?"

Everyone looked around, but found that they couldn't identify anyone to be the frost sprite they all knew. There were plenty of people with blue eyes, just not the right shade, and no one had that oh so familiar snowy white hair. How where they supposed to find him?

Just then, a small boy ran past them. It was a quick glance, but some of his features could be made out. He had sort brown eyes with a match mop of brown hair. He looked to be around three years old, but even then he was kind of small. The final thing that they saw was the smirk on his face. It looked familiar, but from where?

The young boy continued to run through the town just as three other boys ran after him. They appeared to be maybe two years older than the last child so that made them about five or so. They were looking around frantically for something, but never stopped so that the group could get a good look at them. It was only as they ran past and yelled to each other that made everyone start to follow.

"_Where is he?" the first boy asked. He had curly red hair and freckles all over his face. He was currently covered in mud, leaves and twigs._

"_Why are you asking me?" asked the second boy. "He set that trap for you! Not us!" He had blond hair and was cowering slightly from the yelling first boy._

_The third boy had brown hair that covered his left eye. He said, "Wait! There he is!"_

_The first boy pushed him out of the way and yelled, "After him! No one make a fool out of Roger Jones!" He then ran in the direction the little boy had gone. The other two shared a look and then followed after at a much slower pace._

"_Why are we listening to him? We weren't even there!" cried the brunette._

"_Maybe because he caught us laughing and would beat us up if we didn't? God, we just have the worst luck don't we Sam," stated the blond._

_Sam shook his head in slight amusement and dread and said, "No, __**you**__ have the worst luck. I just happened to be nearby and got caught in the aftermath, Michael."_

"_Why did you tell Roger which way the kid went? I thought he was like a little brother to you," asked Michael as they followed._

_Sam laughed heartily and said, "You know Roger is no smarter than a pig! My little prankster would __**never**__ be caught by the likes of him."_

_Michael shook his head. "Now that's not very nice, Sam. You're insulting the pigs!"_

_Both boys laughed and followed the shouts through the town and back towards the woods._

The group of watchers followed as well. As they went through the town they heard the shouting of the boy, Roger, as well as a few adults and younger kids remarking on what had happened to the boy. Things like "oh goodness, looks like that little joker struck again" or "look at the funny boy!"

Monty couldn't see the first two boys anymore but wondered if the younger had pulled that prank on Roger. "Guys? Do you think that first kid we saw was the one who dumped that muck onto Roger?"

"Well if he did," Bunny said, "Then he and Jack would get along great in this time. Heck! Jack may have taught him how to do it in the first place!"

They were finally out of town again and into the woods, but this time they were following a dirt path. Where it leads, none of them seemed to know, but it didn't matter at the moment since they veered off into the denser forest again.

"_Where did you go, you little rat?!" Roger called from nearby._

_Sam and Michael shared another look and went off to see what the problem was. When they got there they found a huge pond with several rocks and boulders in it. The trees made a perfect circle around the area and there were so many leaves on the ground that they had started to pile up. Roger was at the pond's shore; his face red in rage as he wiped the muck from his body with the water._

Pitch smirked and said, "See? This is the same pond that Jack likes to be near when he comes to Burgess. I was right." Bunny just grumbled and looked towards the scene before them.

_Michael looked around and asked, "Did you find him?"_

_Roger growled and remarked, "Does it __**look**__ like I found him?! That little twerp is going to pay for this one day." Looking back at the two boys he paused and took them in for a moment. Then he said, "Wait…you know where to find him…don't you Sam." When Sam didn't answer, Roger grabbed the front of his shirt and lifted him up demanding, "Where. Is. He?"_

_Sam didn't even seem to flinch. All he did was glare back and say, "Why would I know? I was following after you if you recall. The most I could see was you running off!"_

Pitch chuckled and said, "Those boys are lying. They're covering the smaller boy's tracks." Everyone gave a different look to the situation; some thought it was funny, the girls thought it was sweet, and some thought that it was weird that Pitch seemed to know the most about the situation before them.

"If I could now, I'd give boy nothing but coal on Christmas!" mumbled North. Sandy nodded and made several sand images depicting the boy having a troubling sleep, but only Pitch noticed and he smiled at the chance to see the Sandman willingly give him a chance to give a nightmare.

_Roger dropped him and shouted to the area, "You got lucky this time, pipsqueak. You won't be so lucky next time!" then he stormed off towards town._

_Sam and Michael waited till he was out of sight before they broke up laughing. Both fell to the ground and were clutching their stomachs when the giggling started to hurt. "D-d-did you s-s-see his-s-s face?! Priceless!" said Sam in between his giggles._

"_Oh-oh-oh man, thanks-s-s for telling me to stand out s-s-side the bakers-s-s. That was great!" cheered Michael. "But, you know that none of us are safe now from his wrath, right?"_

"_A small price to pay, don't 'cha think?" asked Sam. "Besides, he had it coming for making Susan cry yesterday. My little man had been there and wanted to make him pay so Susan would smile again."_

_Michael looked around and asked, "Speaking of…where is the little joker anyways? He deserves some praise right now."_

_Suddenly there was a rustling of leaves nearby followed by a short gasp. Obviously, someone was trying to hide and had failed. Sam smiled and called, "You heard the man. Roger is long gone by now, so you can come out now Jack."_

Everyone froze and stared in anticipation around the area of the pond. Did they hear that right? The little boy that had been chased by Roger and had pulled the prank…was Jack? It couldn't be the same Jack they knew, could it? The next thing they know was more rustling from a huge pile of leaves.

The same boy from earlier popped his head out of the leaves and looked around with wide curious eyes. Now that they could see his face they realised that it was more than likely the same Jack that they all knew…just, younger. Baby Tooth flew forward to examine the child up close and in a few seconds she was squealing with delight at seeing a child Jack. Tooth then 'awed' when a leaf falling on his nose caused Jack to sneeze.

Bunny scratched his head finding all of this a little overwhelming. It was definitely Jack, no question about it, but why did he look so different? Jamie seemed to have the same idea because he said, "That doesn't exactly look like Jack. Jack has blue eyes and white hair. This kid has brown eyes and hair."

"How very observant of you," Pitch muttered dryly.

North stared for a moment at Jack and then at Jamie and back again. "Ha ha! Jamie! You share resemblance to Jack!" he said.

The other kids looked between the two and agreed that Jamie shared a lot of similarities with the young boy before them. Sophie wasn't sure what was going on, but she could recognize that the little boy was the same as her 'second big brother' and made to walk over to him saying, "Jack-Jack!"

Thankfully, Bunny was fast enough to catch her before she went too far. When she complained, Bunny said, "Sorry, little ankle-bitter. That's not really Jack. Remember, these are just his memories." Sophie pouted but complied and stopped trying to move to the other child.

_The young boy, Jack, looked up at the two older boys and asked, "Did I get him good? Did I get Susan to smile?"_

_Sam walked up and ruffled the kid's hair earning an annoyed 'Hey' in return before he said, "yep! Susan couldn't stop smiling after that display of cunning." When Jack stared at him blankly he rephrased, "after you showed how sneaky and fun you were."_

"_Oh!" Jack said with a huge smile on his face. Then all three boys laughed. Eventually, they stopped and Michael had to go._

"_Sorry, guys. I promised my dad that I would help bring in some fire wood so I should get going. See you later, Sam, and take care, Jack!" he said as he waved farewell to them._

_Sam stood up as well and said, "Actually, I have to get going too. Mum won't be too happy if I'm not back in town soon. What about you Jack?"_

_Now, Jack was only three, which meant he wasn't supposed to be out in the woods on his own in the first place. However, this pond was closer to his home than the town was. Jack thought about it and said, "I will stay here. K?"_

_Sam smiled again and said, "Sure. I'll tell your parents where you are so they don't get worried again. You have a knack for scaring people without trying."_

_Jack just giggled and remarked, "No, you are all just too jumpy and I'm just good at hiding, see?" With that, Jack ducked back under the leaves and out of sight._

_Sam pretended to lose Jack and said over dramatically, "oh no! Where did Jack go? He was here just a minute ago." Jack giggled and Sam continued, "Maybe he's under…HERE!" He pounced on the pile of leaves expecting a squeal and a small boy to be in his arms, but when neither of these things happened, he sat up and looked around with a "Huh?"_

_Jack's giggling grew into a laugh that seemed to echo around the clearing. Then they all heard, "You can't catch me! You can't catch me!"_

_Sam looked confused for a minute before a smirk spread on his face. "Oh? Is that a challenge, Frostbite?"_

All the immortals looked at Bunny after that was said. Bunny scratched his head. "Huh, and here I thought I was the only one to call the bloke 'Frostbite'," he said with an amused grin. "I like this Sam fella'. He's a lot like yours truly. I'm gonna have so much blackmail on Jack later. Maybe this was a good thing."

"Shush," Tooth said as she went back to watching the memory.

"_HEY! My name not Fwostbite! It Fwost! Jackson Overland Fwost!" Jack called. Apparently, with Jack only being three he couldn't pronounce 'R-s' very well. Then as an afterthought he added, "YES!"_

"_Whatever you say, Kiddo. But I'll find you one way or another. Even if I have to trap you like a rabbit," Sam called, hoping that that would get the kid to come out. It didn't._

_Sam spent the next hour trying to find Jack in the leaf piles only to get his shirt filled with the bright colours and receive taunts from Jack._

"Wow, Jack is really good at hiding when he wants to be," commented Cupcake. Sandy nodded and showed an image of Jack and then it disappearing followed by Pitch fading into the shadows.

Pitch scoffed, "please, Jack is nowhere near my level of hiding and sneaking. Don't insult me Sanderson." Sandy rolled his eyes and returned to the scene. It had become a bit of a game among everyone – even Pitch – to see who could spot Jack first. Like Sam, they were searching the ground for any movement or sound of the trickster, but had come up empty handed just like the boy. It was then that they noticed someone new nearing the area.

_Sam was about to give up and tell Jack that he won when he saw someone approaching from the town side of the path. Turning around he found a man with a shepherd's crook looking around for something or someone. When he was closer, it was easy to see his features. He was a lean man, but stood fairly tall. He wore simple pants made from animal hide with similar made shoes. His shirt was white and normal to the time period. He had brown hair like Jack's but his eyes were a lighter brown, almost amber._

_When he was only a few feet away from Sam he said, "Hello, Sam. How are you? Your mother is starting to worry you know. You should head home soon. Oh, and you wouldn't happen to have seen my mischievous son have you? Michael told me that you two were out here by the pond."_

_Sam rubbed his neck and admitted, "Actually, Jack was showing me how sneaky he can be and now I can't find him."_

_Instead of being upset with the five year old, the man seemed almost amused by this. "Now, don't give me that. I heard about Jack's little 'sludge incident' today."_

_Sam gulped. "I swear it was for the greater good!"_

_The man didn't seem to hear him or he just ignored the comment and said, "Where have you looked so far?"_

"_In the bushes and inside the leaf piles, why?" Sam asked._

_The man chuckled and called out, "Jack, we have to go home now. Your mother wouldn't want us __**both**__ to be late now would she?"_

"_NO! Papa has to find me like Sammy does," was the reply back._

"_Good luck. I've been searching for the last hour and haven't found a thing," muttered the brunette._

_Jack's father laughed again and said, "That's because you are looking in all the wrong places." Sam looked confused and followed the man over to the tree Jack had hidden under in the beginning. "You were looking down, when you should have been looking up!"_

_Sam looked into the tree, but couldn't see anything but the autumn leaves. "How can you see anything with all those leaves in the way?"_

_The man shakes his head and said, "I don't need to see him to hear him do I?" Sam shook his head. "Just watch." Jack's father took his staff and placed the crook firmly on the end of a branch. He then pulled it down slowly so that the occupant on it wouldn't see or feel it until the last second. When he heard the sudden 'huh' from the branch he let go and the same branch flew up._

"_WAHHH!" Jack yelped as he lost his grip on the branch and fell into the waiting pile of leaves beneath him with an 'oomph'. Popping out of the pile again, Jack looked up at the smug face of his father and the shocked face of Sam._

"_See? I told you didn't I?" the man said. Sam just nodded, still too shocked to speak. "I think you should head home now. See you later, Sam."_

_Sam smiled and said, "Thank you. Bye Mr. Frost." Looking back at the child that had caused him so much trouble he said, "And farewell to you too, Frostbite."_

_Jack huffed and said, "Name not 'Fwostbite'" then, thinking some more he added, "Bye Sammy!" Sam then raced off for his home in town._

_Jack's father then turned back to his son with a sort of grim expression and Jack seemed to shrink back under the gaze. He knew he was in trouble._

"Uh oh," Caleb said.

"Jack's in for it now," continued Claude.

"_So," the man said, "what's this about you having a bucket of mud, twigs and leaves fall on Roger Jones? Hmm?"_

_Jack suddenly found playing with a yellow leaf very entertaining as he thought about what his father said. "He had it coming," he finally said._

"_And why's that," his father asked and seemed to grow more serious._

_Jack couldn't hold it in anymore and blurted, "He made Susan cry yesterday! He's mean and nothing but a pile of sheep poop!" Jack's father was at a loss for words and Jack finally asked after an awkward silence, "Am I in twouble?"_

Everyone waited with baited breath; even Pitch! Sure, the child had a good reason for his actions and he was only three so he wouldn't know any better and the only one poorly affected was Roger, but would it mean that Jack would get in trouble? "I wouldn't want to be Jack right now," said Pippa and she tugged at her winter hat in worry.

Jack's father seemed to go into deep thought as if considering what kind of punishment he would give the child when he suddenly smirked. Sandy noticed it first and found that it was the same smirk that Jack had when he was planning something fun. Sandy relaxed a bit, but didn't give anything away to his companions.

_Jack's father opened one eye and said, "I don't know. What you did __**was**__ pretty naughty. Maybe I shouldn't read you a story tonight to teach you a lesson." Jack's eyes widened in shock but the mischief that played in his father's eyes never left. Unfortunately, Jack didn't see it and was on the verge of breaking down._

"_Nooooooooo!" Jack cried as fresh tears fell down his face. "No, please don't do that! Papa, I need stowy before bed! I pwomise, I won't pull that twick again, don't stop reading me stowies!"_

Everyone was shocked. Who knew that that sort of punishment would have this effect on Jack? It was just a bedtime story. Why was it so important? North thought about it and recalled how Jack loved to hear about his adventures as a thief before becoming the Guardian of Wonder. Jack always seemed interested in stories and on more than one occasion had heard from Sandy that the boy would sometimes look through the windows to children's rooms to watch the dream sand swirl above their heads. Perhaps this was just another aspect of Jack that none of them had really noticed.

_Jack was in tears and didn't see the kind smile spread across his father's face. That is until the man laughed and he looked up to see him beaming down at him. "Jack, you know I'd never do that to you. That's special time for just the two of us and I'd never stop it even if you __**were**__ in trouble; which you are not."_

_Jack sniffed and repeated, "I'm not?"_

"_Nope!" he replied. "In fact, I'm quite proud of you. You used your skills to aid someone even though you didn't have to. You risked your own safety to make sure someone else was alright. How could I be mad about that?"_

_Jack wiped away the rest of his tears from his brown eyes and smiled a small smile. He reached up towards his father and said man picked him up before grabbing his staff from the tree. "So, my little avenger, ready to head home to Mama? I'm sure you're hungry by now."_

_Jack looked defiant for a moment and said, "I'm not hungwy. I can –" But he was cut off by the sudden growl coming from his stomach. "Umm," he said trying to think up an excuse while he blushed in embarrassment._

_His father laughed and said, "you, my mischievous son, are the worst liar I have ever known; and that includes myself when I try to get around your mother…don't tell her I said that." He also started to blush at his slip up._

Jack laughed, but nodded that he wouldn't say anything. The two started back to where everyone assumed Jack's home was and followed after the two. "Hey, why aren't they headed for town?" Monty asked noticing the stronger lights fading away as the moved on.

"In this area, if I recall correctly, there is the main town while some of the homes are spread out into the woods for different purposes such as herdsmen or farmers," explained the Nightmare King. "Judging by the fact that Jack's father has a shepherd's crook, it's safe to assume that his family are the former mentioned."

They soon arrived at a simply log cabin. It looked to be one level with an attic or roof area for slightly more room. On one side of the house was a fenced area that held a flock of sheep and a few goats as well. Close by to that there was a stump with a pile of chopped wood behind it. A small distance away, one could still see the faint glimmer of the sun off the pond's waters. Everyone watched as the two people from the memory entered the small home. They were about to follow when the door closed shut.

"Well, this could pose as a problem," said Tooth.

Monty looked at her and furrowed his brow in confusion. "What do you mean? Can't we just sneak in through the front door or a window or something?"

Pitch rolled his eyes – not that anyone really saw him do this. "Are you not paying attention to the situation we're in or are you really that dim minded, boy? We are in a memory. For all we know –" Pitch spoke but stopped midway through and looked at the door in thought, "- we could just be ghosts here. Wait just a minute, let me try something."

Everyone gave curious looks to the Boogieman. The children were waiting in anticipation while Monty was also annoyed that he was insulted by the shade. Tooth whispered to the Sandman, "Any idea what he's doing?" Sandy shook his head and shrugged in response. He had no clue as to what his counterpart was up to.

Pitch had moved closer to the door and seemed to be examining it while also lost in thought. In all honesty, it looked kind of crazy. "I think Boogieman has gone insane," muttered the ex-thief as he watched.

Bunny snorted and said, "Nah, he's always been insane, mate. He's just more so now."

At that moment, Pitch had turned back to them, but gave a glare in Bunny's direction. He would have glared at the Cossack too, but the man barely understood sarcasm so what was the point. Besides, North at least knew that Pitch was sane before he made the unintentionally oral comment. Bunny, well, Pitch had a few words to describe the large Pooka and none of them were too pleasant.

The kids started to giggle when they saw how the Easter Bunny became slightly flustered thinking that the shade wouldn't hear him but apparently did. Satisfied with the reaction, Pitch returned to his musings and before anyone could say anything he walk right through the door. Everyone gasped and then again when he stuck an arm back out to motion them to follow. As usual, Jamie and Sophie were the first to enter after him.

Without looking at the two, Pitch spoke while surveying the area. "I thought as much. This is a memory after all and we are just viewing it which means we can pass through objects to get a better look at things. I would assume that we would also be able to hold certain things to aid us in travelling around."

"Is…is that why you were looking at the door before?" Jamie asked in slight awe of the man before him. He didn't know him all that well other than he wanted to be rid of the Guardians and that he's the Boogieman. To hear him speak like this made Jamie think of someone of great importance, like a warrior before battle.

Pitch nodded his head just as the others entered the small home. From first glance, it was a comfy one area room that seemed to be a combination of a kitchen, living room and eating area. There was a hallway off to the right that probably lead to some bed rooms and storage areas while a ladder lead up to an attic. In the living room section of the room, there were two chairs and a sofa placed in front of a roaring fireplace. A small carpet with wolves on it lay before the furniture. Over the fireplace was a buck head as well as some family portraits. Everything was either made of wood, fabric or iron and the colours were very neutral in shade. There were a few splashes of blue or red around the home, but otherwise it was very brown. Soon, the group's attention was brought back to the family living there.

_Jack's father was still carrying his son when he went to put his staff down to lean against one of the chairs in the living room area. Jack was giggling the whole time because he was apparently making it much more difficult for his father to keep his balance. When he finally managed the feat, he sat down in the same chair and placed Jack on his lap._

_The house smelled so good right now. There was a stew on the stove and it made Jack's stomach growl again from hunger. "Now, how about we get something in that tummy of yours? You sound like a grizzly with all that rumbling," said his father._

_Suddenly, there was a call from the hallway. "Christopher, is that you? Have you seen Jack? I haven't heard from him in hours." A woman emerged from the hall. She was shorter than Jack's father, Christopher, but still fairly tall. She had shoulder length brown hair and honey brown eyes like Jack. She was wringing her hands in the folds of her apron which was white. She wore a brown dress with dark red and blue triangles decorating the bottom in an alternating pattern. Overall, she looked quite pretty, but very worried at the moment._

_She looked over to the two males in the chair and gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the lord you're alright," she said._

_Christopher laughed and said, "Relax, Mary! The boy was just having some fun in the forest with Sam when I walked by. Right, Jack?"_

_Jack nodded and spread his arms saying, "Yep!"_

_Mary, Jack's mother, gave a sly and sceptical look. "Oh, yes. Janette told me about my son running amok in town pulling a 'prank' on Roger Jones and then being chased all over the place. Yes, that sounds like wonderful fun." It was obvious that she wasn't entirely amused. "Christopher, did you talk to your son about his behaviour?" she asked._

_Christopher nodded. "Yes, dear. We had a little chat back in the forest." Mary gave him a look that said 'well?' and he replied, "I couldn't be prouder! And it was a very good prank if I do say so myself." He then started to laugh heartily._

_Jack started to giggle, but tried to cover it up by covering his mouth. It didn't work too well. Mary just shook her head in what looked like disappointment but the smile she wore said otherwise. "Christopher, please don't encourage him. Good lord, sometimes I swear I'm raising to boys instead of the one."_

_Jack and his father looked at each other before turning back to Mary and asking simultaneously, "Which one?" Just from the look on her face they started to laugh again._

"_Now don't you two start that. You're not the only ones who know how to play tricks on others," she said with a glint of mischief in her eyes as she went to check on her stew. Both boys paled slightly at that and shut their mouths afraid that they'd say something to set her off. Smiling in victory she said, "So what's this I hear about you being hungry, Jack?"_

_Jack pouted like he had back in the forest and was about to say that he wasn't actually hungry when his stomach betrayed him again. Blushing again he said, "um…when is supper ready?"_

_Mary chuckled and replied, "right now. Come and sit down."_

_Jack leapt out of his father's lap and ran over to a chair at the small table to eat. His mother placed three bowls of stew down before she and her husband sat down to eat. Jack, however, was having some trouble getting into his seat. He was pretty small for a child his age and so he couldn't quite climb up._

_Christopher noticed his son's dilemma and asked, "Jack, do you want some help?"_

_Jack shook his head and tried to climb up the chair again with slightly more success. The parents shared a look and smiled. Mary placed her spoon down and said, "Let Jack try again. Maybe he just needs a reason other than the stew to get up. Jack?"_

_Jack got on his tippy-toes and looked over the table at his mother. "Yes Mama?"_

"_Jack, if you can climb onto the chair by yourself today and eat all your supper, then…I'll give you a slice of pie for desert!" she said._

_Jack's eyes widened at the prospect of the delicious treat, but then narrowed his eyes. This could just be a trick. He had to make sure it was a flavour he liked or this would all be for naught. "What flavour?" he asked._

_Seeming to expect the question she replied right away, "Pumpkin. Perfect season for it too."_

_Jack smiled and nodded his head. Backing away from the chair, Jack took a running leap at the seat and jump as high as he could. He managed to grip the other side of the chair and pulled himself up. The chair rocked slightly but then settled. Jack looked up at his parents and said, "Tada!" and then dug into his food._

_The memory seemed to fast forward itself because soon the family finished eating and it was time for Jack to go to bed. Jack kept protesting the whole time saying that he wasn't tired. Christopher looked at his son and said, "What? But I thought you wanted to have a story?"_

_Jack seemed to forget about his earlier protests and exclaimed, "Stowy, stowy, stowy!"_

_His father chuckled and said, "Race you to your room." He pretended to start running and Jack squealed thinking that it was another game that he could play before going to bed. Jack ran off and towards the hallway. When his father got there, he saw the young boy climbing up a ladder to the attic. Shaking his head he asked, "Now how is it that you can climb the ladder and trees with no problem, but have so many when trying to get on your chair?"_

Jack didn't hear him and just continued up the ladder until he was out of view and in the other room. Christopher followed after him. This was the same moment when Jamie, Sophie and Pitch climbed the ladder too. Everyone else was surprised that they didn't just ghost through it like before but followed anyways. Tooth and Sandy flew up, Bunny made one great jump and everyone else climbed. When they were all in the room they took a look around.

It was indeed the attic. It was quite spacious and had one large window that overlooked the front area of the house. There was a single bed, nightstand, table, two chairs, a dresser and a toy chest. All made from the material found just downstairs. There was a rug to play on that was blue with a snowflake stitched into it and the sheets on the bed were similar in design.

"Wow, I guess Jack had a thing for winter even as a kid," Jamie commented as he wandered around the room.

_Jack was in the corner by his toy chest and seemed to be digging for something. His father waited on the bed for his son to return with the object. Jack said, "Ah! Found you!" and returned with a book._

_He crawled into the bed and his father picked it up. The cover of the book read: _Bedtime Stories, by Jackson and Christopher Frost. _Christopher chuckled and said, "You know, I have a new story that we should add to this collection."_

_Jack looked surprised and asked, "New stowy?"_

_His father nodded and asked, "Two questions. One; do you want me to add it in later? And two; do you want to hear it?"_

_Jack nodded his head and replied, "Yes. Yes!"_

_Chuckling, Christopher said, "Ok. This is the story of the Man in the Moon."_

Pitch rolled his eyes while all the kids, including Jack, leaned in with interest. _"What sort of story would Jack's father know about MiM?"_ the Nightmare King wondered. He and the Guardians were utterly surprised when the man actually told part of MiM's story.

"_Now, most know him as the Man in the Moon, but he has another name; Tsar Lunar. Where he came from, I don't know, but I do know that he currently lives on the moon. Now mortal has ever truly seen him either! I can't even describe him for you. However, know that he watches over the Earth. He would never let something harm us; I guess you could call him a…Guardian."_

_Jack listened on in awe but then confusion. "How can someone pwotect us if we never see or hear fwom him? You pwotect me but I can see and hear you. How do you even know if he is real?"_

"_I know he's real because I believe in him," explained his father. "Don't you believe in something even though you've never seen it?"_

_Jack thought about his and looked around his room. It almost seemed like he was looking right at the immortals in the room. Turning back to his father he said, "Yes."_

"_Oh? Who then?"_

_Jack smiled and started to list things off on his fingers. "I believe in magic! Magic brings the seasons and helps me be sneaky and dream up big ideas and-"_

"_Whoa!" his father cut him off. "I meant people. We already know that there's magic around us every day. Can you list people who have this magic?"_

_Jack nodded and said, "Sandman, Santa, Tooth Faiwy, Easter Bunny…" he paused and looked somewhat nervous before he said in a whisper like it was taboo to say it, "the Boogieman."_

"_The Boogieman? Didn't you claim that you saw him last month?" Christopher asked with a small smile._

"_It was him!" Jack protested. "He was in the forest walking around! I was in a twee twying to get my toy Roger thwew into it."_

_Christopher didn't stop smiling and asked, "So, what did he look like then?"_

_Jack was caught off guard by the question and stuttered, "Um…I-I didn't…get that good a…look at him."_

_Then man laughed and told him that was fine; that he shouldn't worry about it. "Jack, look out the window, what do you see?"_

_Jack looked out the window into the sky and replied, "I see the moon. Hey! It's full tonight!"_

_Christopher pointed to the moon and said, "Now look at it closely. See those two darker areas and that small section there?" Jack nodded but kept his gaze at the moon. "Now what do you see?"_

_Jack gasped and exclaimed, "ITS A FACE! THE MOON HAS A FACE!"_

"_Hahaha, yep, that's right kiddo. Is that enough proof for you that he exists?" the man asked._

_Jack nodded but said, "Ok, so the Man in the Moon is real, but I don't see him as a guardian for me."_

This got many more shocked faces among the group watching. Jack didn't think that MiM was his guardian or a Guardian for children period! Jamie exchanged looks with his friends. They all sort of knew where Jack was coming from when he said this. None of them considered MiM to be a Guardian because they had never seen him do anything other than watch. They didn't blame Jack for thinking that way. Pitch, on the other hand, was overjoyed to hear the boy unknowingly denounce his biggest enemy. It was like him getting the best Christmas present ever!

_Christopher had an unreadable expression on his face. He looked at Jack and said, "Why wouldn't he be a guardian?"_

"_I've never seen or heard him do something for us to pwotect us. He's not my guardian," said Jack._

"_Alright, so if he isn't your guardian, then who is?" Christopher asked with a more serious expression._

_Jack looked at his father and smiled wide. He cuddled up to the man and said, "Old Man Winter and Mama!"_

_Christopher seemed saddened by this response, but then confused. "Who's Old Man Winter, kiddo? I've never heard of him before."_

_Jack giggled. "You call me Pwince Fwost in winter, so that makes you King Fwost…right? You're older than me and…um…" Jack tried to explain._

_Christopher laughed and said, "So, let me get this straight, because I call you a frost prince that makes me Old Man Winter by association?"_

"_He did a much better explanation of it earlier today when you went off to work in the fields," Mary said from the ladder. Both boys looked at her surprised. That is until Jack laughed and reached out calling 'Mama'._

_Mary laughed as well and picked up the child before sitting back down on the bed next to her husband. "He kept going on about how much the two of you loved winter. Then Susan's father came by and asked him 'how's your old man doing?' and thus, he came to this name for you. Before he went into town to play he was parading around the kitchen claiming that you and he was masters of winter."_

"_Well, if I recall correctly, we are all born in that season and I was able to nail you with a snowball last winter," claimed Christopher._

"_Then Mama shoved snow down you coat!" reminded Jack._

"_Oh yeah," his father admitted in embarrassment. "Alright! Old Man Winter it is! Just don't go spreading that around town, ok kiddo?"_

"_Ok Papa, but you and Mama are still my only guardians. You pwotect me from everything!" Jack exclaimed._

_Both parents laughed, but it was Mary who spoke up. "Alright, time for bed. Your father has to work tomorrow and you are helping me deliver fixed clothing to some of my customers."_

"_Aww, Mary/Mama!" both Frost boys complained._

"_No 'if', 'and' or 'but' about it," she announced as she tucked her son into bed. Jack started giggling as she did so. "And what is so funny, my little jokester?"_

"_You said 'butt'," Jack replied and started laughing all over again._

"_He's got a point," remarked Christopher. "Night kiddo. See you in the morning."_

"_Night Papa. Night Mama," Jack said before snuggling down into his bed. The parents left via the ladder and the only light left in the room was from the moon shining through the window. Jack gazed up at the moon and said, "see you tomowow night, Mr. Moon." Then he promptly fell asleep._

The memory started to fade and everyone was either thinking or talking about the memory.

"That was awesome! Jack is from Burgess just like us," Claude exclaimed.

"And he played pranks, even as a kid, to make others feel better!" continued Caleb.

"He kind of looks like Jamie," remarked Cupcake.

"Think they're related?" asked Pippa.

"Jack-Jack?" asked Sophie. Clearly, she didn't understand what everyone else was thinking, but she knew they were talking about her 'snowy spirit'; Jack Frost, and he was suddenly gone with the memory.

"Guys, how can Jack be related to me and Soph? He's over 300 years old!" exclaimed Jamie.

Pippa thought about it. "Maybe Jack had kids or something and continued the family line before he became a Guardian."

"Or he had siblings!" supplied Monty.

The Guardians were having a slightly different talk. They didn't comment on where Jack came from but rather on whom he was and who his family were during that time.

"Aw, Jack is so cute!" said Toothiana. Baby Tooth squeaked in agreement and got dreamy eyes thinking about the small little boy from moments ago. "And did you see his teeth?! They were like freshly fallen snow even back then!"

"Haha! Jack was tiny prankster even before he had powers to use," said North. He was smiling the whole time.

Bunny shrugged. "If you ask me, he only got worse over the years. I can see that he gets his mischievous side from both his parents and not just one of em. It might be a nightmare if Frostbite really did have kids before becoming a spirit of winter. Who knows what they'd all do." Bunny shivered at the idea.

Sandy didn't speak – obviously – but neither did Pitch. Neither one had anything that they wanted to share. They were happy keeping their thoughts to themselves – especially since some of these thoughts would have given the others a chance to mock them. Sandy normally didn't side with Pitch on anything, but he wished he could go back to this time period just so that he could let the Nightmare King give that Roger boy a taste of his own medicine. Pitch normally didn't side with the Sandman either, but he was actually enjoying seeing Jack's past even though it was sickeningly sweet.

"Oh, I wonder if Sweet Tooth ever met us in his past life," Tooth remarked, making all the other immortals wonder the same thing. It was over 300 years since Jack was a mortal child, maybe they would remember meeting him as the memories went on.

Finally, the last bit of the memory faded and they were on their way to the next one, wondering what they would see next.

* * *

**Phantom: So, that's chapter two everyone. The next chapter won't be for a while so I can write the next chapter to my other story "Ghostly Reunions".**

**Trainer: Tell them about the awesome party we had!**

**Phantom: Ok, ok. My sister and I had an end-of-the-year party for us and our friends and it got kind of ridiculous at times. Firstly, we managed to break an umbrella which we thought was really hard. It wasn't the fabric area, oh no, it was the staff part that holds the whole thing up!**

**Trainer: Then, we ended up playing "the game of LIFE". Phantom and one of our friends decided that they weren't going to go to college like the rest of us and somehow they both ended up millionaires by the end of it! How does that work?**

**Phantom: I'm not complaining. Thirdly, we had some fortune cookies and they said some pretty weird things. Our mom told us that to make them funny, we need to add "in bed" to the end of them. And she was right, they were hilarious!**

**Trainer: don't talk about the cookies…they were really gross and I ate about five before I realised that. Umph. Ew, baby barf.**

**Phantom: Gross. Anyways, I hope you all liked this chapter. If you have guesses as to what will happen to Jack or the Guardians, I would love to see if you are close or not! Well, there are just two more things to say before we're done.**

**Both: HAPPY CANADA DAY! And please review!**


	3. Chapter 3: Birthday Fun

**Phantom: Hello readers!**

**Trainer: How are you?**

**Phantom: So, I've been getting a lot of new reviews, favs. and follows. Thanks to all!**

**Trainer: On other news, we were psyched when we found out that the main character of the show **_**Slug Terra**_** was the same as the guy who played Aerrow (main character) from **_**Storm Hawks**_**!**

**Phantom: And you can see tons of similarities between the two shows. Today I saw an episode and it was called **_**The New Kid**_**. If you haven't seen either show, then you won't understand how much of a fangirl I was at that moment.**

**Trainer: Yep, Nerdcorps just doesn't want their greatest show (Storm Hawks) to die just yet. Plus, it's still on TV. It's just like how Butch Hartman still supports his show **_**Danny Phantom**_** by cameo-ing him into his other shows!**

**Phantom: So, yeah! Now, onto the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Rise of the Guardians; the plot is mine as well as some characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Birthday Fun**

* * *

For when looking at the memories:

_Italic_ – Memories

_**Bold Italic**_ – Thoughts in Memories

Regular – Everyone else

* * *

Just like with the first memory, the scenery was slowly fading into view. They were still at the Frost's cabin but it was now winter. The trees were bare and frosted lightly while some icicles hung from the branches. All over the place were mounds of snow and the ground was covered in the cold fluffy white substance as well. At least, that's what one would see if they looked out the window.

Yes, they were currently inside the house and still in Jack's room. It was only just the start of the day so the sun's rays were slowly making their way into the room and illuminating everything. Everything looked the same as the last memory except for the season which meant that some time had gone by at the very least. However, the thing that drew in everyone's attention was the slumbering Jack in the bed.

He was curled up to one side with the blanket tangled around his form, but he didn't seem to mind. When the first sun rays met him his face scrunched up and he tossed the pillow over his head.

"Aw, he's adorable," said Tooth and Baby Tooth made a sound similar to a helium filled sigh of adoration. Both were hovering up high to get a better view and looked like love struck teens.

Sandy and North gave each other a knowing look and Tooth immediately composed herself with a nervous smile. What? She just loved the frost child like a mother and Baby Tooth was really close to him. They couldn't help it!

Bunny knelt down and picked Sophie up so that she could view over the other kids. She giggled as he tried to hide from the sun and covered her mouth thinking that she may accidentally wake Jack up.

Bunny smirked at her antics and said, "No need for that, Sheila. He won't 'ear ya." Sophie nodded but still covered her mouth.

The Burgess kids also giggled at the way Jack was acting. They had known him as a mischievous and fun loving spirit of winter. They didn't know if spirits had to sleep or eat but to see Jack act like them when he wasn't an immortal being was just…funny; there was no real way to explain why it was, it just was.

Pitch just smiled. There was something about seeing this small boy like this that made him happy and almost nostalgic. He quickly shook that thought from his mind. He was the Nightmare King! Why would seeing Jack as a child be even remotely nostalgic or familiar to him? Pitch ignored the thought but planned to get to the bottom of it.

It was then that they heard some rustling from downstairs followed by the tell-tale sound of someone climbing the ladder to Jack's room. It just so happened to be Jack's mother Mary. She was wearing a similar outfit as when they last saw her but she wasn't wearing the apron this time.

_Mary looked around the room until her eyes settled on the form of her son lying in bed. She shook her head and made her way over to the head of the lump in the sheets. She tapped a finger on her lips as if she were pondering what to do and smiled as she came to a conclusion. In one swift motion she grabbed the pillow covering the boy's head and pulled the sheets away from his body._

_Jack shrieked when the chilled air caught him by surprise and he squint his eyes when the sunlight blinded him. The results were of one colonial boy falling out of bed head first. Jack groaned and pulled himself up with the bedframe to look at his mother with sleepy eyes. She had a triumphant smile on her face while she held both of his bed's garments._

_Jack yawned and rubbed his eyes to try and relieve the sleepiness that still clouded them. He then asked, "Why did you wake me, mama?"_

_Mary smiled and answered, "Well I can't just let you sleep through such an important day, now can I?"_

_Jack wasn't fully awake since he didn't react the way Mary was expecting him to. With a small frown she asked, "You _do_ know what day it is today, right?"_

_Jack scratched his head and hoped the answer would come to him. It was only when he looked outside to see the fresh snow and the winter wonderland it had provided that his face lit up in recognition. He jumped up with a sudden burst of energy and exclaimed, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!"_

_Mary laughed and said, "Yes, it is. Now I want you to hurry up and get dressed. We have some errands to do before your party later."_

_Jack nodded and replied, "Yes mama!" and started to head to his dresser to grab some clothing for the day. Mary nodded back and left the room. A few minutes later, Jack was dressed in similar pants and shirt that the group had seen him wear in the last memory. He then ran to the ladder and climbed down._

No one followed because they were all shell-shocked to learn that it was Jack's birthday. It had been almost a year and no one really knew when his birthday was let alone how old it made him. When you became immortal, age and time became somewhat irrelevant since you can't really die. Although, they all had to admit, they would have liked to know this particular piece of information about the frost child.

"What day do you think it is?" asked Monty.

"Well, it's winter! At least that's a start," commented Pippa.

Jamie sighed. "We don't even know the month or date specifically! They might not even mention it!"

Sophie was squealing with delight and announced over and over again "Jack-Jack and I are the same age!"

Toothiana was ecstatic and was flying everywhere at once firing off questions and statements. "It's Jack's birthday. It's is birthday! Oh, I wonder what they were like for him. How old do you think he was when he became a spirit? How old was he when he was chosen to be a Guardian?! He looked very young, perhaps MiM made him younger than his age of choosing? Oh, but it's his birthday! Wait, he'll be eating sweets today! He'll be ruining his teeth!"

With that last statement made she and Baby Tooth flew out of the room leaving everyone else in slight shock and amusement. North was the one to break the silence. "Well," he said, "Shall we go?" Everyone nodded and they headed out to the main part of the house.

_Downstairs, Jack and Mary were eating breakfast while Christopher was pulling on his boots and a jacket. The final touch was a hat along with his shepherds' staff. Jack looked up from his meal and asked, "Can I come and see you in the fields today papa?"_

_Jack really wanted to play in the snow with the sheep and goats. Maybe he and his father could even make a snowman while watching the animals find grass to eat. Christopher smiled sadly and answered his only son. "Sorry Jack, maybe another day. You were going to help your mother with some errands, but when I get back we can play in the snow, alright?"_

_Jack looked disheartened by the response but nodded his head with his own small smile. "Ok," he said. Jack's father was about to leave when Jack sprung up from his chair and stood on the seat. "WAIT!" he called and his father stopped mid-reach for the door handle. Jack became serious and commanded, "Promise."_

_Christopher looked slightly taken aback and chortled, "w-what?"_

"_Promise," Jack repeated. "Promise that when you come back from work that we'll play in the snow."_

_Christopher laughed but agreed. "Ok, I promise we'll play when I get back."_

_Jack shook his head and jumped down from his seat. He ran to his father who had to kneel in order to see Jack at his height. "No," Jack said and held out his pinkie. "You have to pinkie promise or it's not a real promise." Jack waited expectantly._

Jamie scratched his head clearly surprised. "No wonder Jack always made me pinkie promise with him." The other kids were thinking along the same lines since Jack would tell them to make this kind of promise with him when they wanted a snow day or to play with the winter spirit later on.

_Christopher chuckled and nodded in agreement. Jack and his father intertwined their pinkies and made their promises. Jack smiled happily when it was done and went back to his breakfast. "I'll be back in time for the party," called Christopher as he left._

_Mary looked towards the door and called back, "Be careful, Chris!"_

"_I will," was the faint reply back._

_Jack ran to the window and smiled at the scene outside. It was the perfect winter day. It was cool enough to be winter but at the same time it was warm enough that you could play outside for hours. He couldn't wait for his birthday celebration. His mother seemed to catch on to his excitement and said, "Well, we better get going if we want to finish up on time."_

_Jack peeled his gaze from the window and nodded. He was bursting at the seams in excitement. Mary cleaned their dishes and then moved to grab her own cloak. She was just tying it up when she saw Jack trying to do the same; the only difference was that he had become very tangled in the folds of the fabric._

_Mary giggled and said, "Here, let me help you." Jack let her fix his cloak that looked slightly too big for him. "Hmm," she pondered, "maybe I should fix that cloak of yours. Oh, I knew Sam's old cloak would be too big for you."_

_Jack jumped back and hugged the cloak closer to his body. "No!" he said firmly with a serious – but cute – face. "Don't change it, please! I'll…I'll grow into it!"_

_Mary was about to refuse but one look at Jack's face made her melt and she gave in with a defeated sigh. "Alright, but if it causes you problems than I'm fixing it and that's that," she said as she stood up._

"_Yeay!" Jack exclaimed and ran to the door. Before he could even open it though, Mary grabbed the back of his cloak along with part of his shirt and said, "And where do you think you're going?"_

_Jack tugged on his clothing, desperately trying to reach the door. "Outside," was his response and he struggled to move forward. Too bad his mother had a different idea._

"_Not without your boots you're not," she said and picked up a small set of boots._

_Jack took one look at them and frowned._

"Ooooooh no. Jack ain't one to like shoes, Sheila," Bunny commented. Of course, the memory wouldn't change just because he said that.

"_Don't wanna. I want to play in the snow," Jack said and he continued to pull against his mother._

_Mary frowned and said, "Jack, I can't take you outside in this weather if you don't dress for it. You'll get sick if you don't put on your boots and then you'll have to stay inside during the season just to get better. Is that what you want?"_

_Jack looked to the floor and quietly said, "No."_

"_Then please just put on your boots. It's not like it will one day kill you to do it," Mary reasoned as she released her son and went to fix her bonnet. Jack then proceeded to make fake dying noises and blaming the boots before collapsing to the floor in a very overdramatic fashion._

_Mary looked at her son and rolled her eyes. "Alright, enough of the theatrics; we have errands to run!"_

_Jack got up and reluctantly put on his boots. He frowned at them but didn't dare make a remark about them since his mother might just forbid him from going outside later. Mary opened the door and Jack's eyes instantly lit up with excitement as he took in the cold wonderland just beyond their house._

"Oi!" Bunny exclaimed. "I never thought I'd see the day that Frostbite wore shoes." Everyone chuckled and Pitch smirked at the comment.

_Without warning, Jack ran forward giggling, "SNOW DAY!" before he tripped and did a face plant into the snowy ground. Instead of crying like most kids his age would do after falling, Jack just giggled some more before flipping onto his back and started making snow-angels. Mary giggled as well at her son's antics._

North scratched his beard and turned to Pitch. He said, "Jack must really love winter to not be upset about falling down like dat."

Pitch only nodded. He had never really seen anyone look this happy about a season that usually brought cold and death in his entire life. Jack truly was a mysterious child.

Everyone was watching Jack so much that they didn't notice that Sophie had gone after Jack. It was only when she had plopped into the snow next to the brown-haired boy and copied him in making snow-angels that anyone noticed her.

Jamie ran over to her and pulled her out of the snow. To his amazement, she – like Jack since he had also stood up – had made a snow-angel. Jamie looked from the snow to his sister a few times before both Sophie and Jack exclaimed proudly, "SNOW-ANGEL!"

By now, there was a brief silence before Jamie burst with laughter. Jack's mother also started laughing for her son and soon everyone was laughing. Pitch just smirked at how ridiculous the whole scene was and Sandy was making his silent laughter. Occasionally his golden sand made a small bell-like jingle sound.

_Mary wiped a tear from her eye and looked at the boy in the snow. Grabbing a basket quickly she said, "Come along, Jack. The town awaits us."_

_Jack immediately got up and took his mother's outstretched hand. The two then walked to town._

* * *

Just then, the scenery blurred and everyone soon found themselves in the colonial town of Burgess. There were people walking about just like the last time they were there. Some were chatting, others were going about their daily business and almost all the children were playing in the fresh snow. Jack and his mother had just walked into town when Jack's eyes lit up.

"_Mama, can I go play with the other kids?" Jack asked as they walked further into the settlement._

_Mary looked in the direction her son was looking and saw that many of the town's children were playing in the snow. She knew how much her son loved this season – all the Frosts did – and smiled down at the boy who was waiting impatiently for an answer. "Go ahead. Just stay where I can see you," Mary said._

_Jack gave a whoop of joy and raced off to play with the others. He turned his head slightly and called back, "I will!" Mary turned to head to her first destination which looked like a grocer. It had eggs, flour, a few winter fresh vegetables and even some meat._

_If she had turned to watch her son, she would have noticed the devious smile playing at his lips. In his mind Jack thought, __**"I didn't pinkie-promise, so it's not a real promise!"**__ Jack giggled at his little act of defiance._

Pitch, the Guardians and the Burgess kids froze at hearing Jack when his mouth hadn't moved. Jamie and the other kids looked around in slight fear as Jamie asked, "what was that?" in a wary tone.

"I believe we just heard Jack's thoughts," replied Pitch, still a little shocked to hear the voice himself.

Sandy made several symbols ranging from teeth to a memory box to a sand-Jack as well as a few question marks and his own personal shrug. He was trying to communicate _"maybe since these are Jack's memories, we'll also hear what he was thinking during these times?"_

Tooth translated – since she was the best of the other Guardians – and Sandy nodded that she was right. Everyone silently agreed to this idea since it made things simpler for them. However, it was still creepy at times.

_Jack ran up to the group of kids. Roger was off to one side leaning on a crate and sneering at all the kids playing. When he saw Jack he started glaring and then kicked at the snow at his feet. Jack gulped and took the warning. __**"Ok, try to stay away from Roger…"**__ Jack thought as he made his way to the other kids. Sam and Michael were busy helping two different groups of younger kids build snowmen and a fort respectively._

_Jack looked between the two groups, not sure which he would rather do. If only there were a way to get everyone to play together…just then an idea struck. Jack made his trademark smirk and had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes._

"HA-HA!" cried the Cossack, "Jack is about to spread some fun!"

"Or cause more trouble for everyone else," replied a slightly miffed Bunny. He really didn't like the cold.

Tooth put a finger to her lips and scolded the two. "Shush, I want to see what happens!"

North and Bunny rolled their eyes but did as the Tooth Fairy said.

_Jack looked at the two groups as if to choose a target. Sam was making snowmen with a boy and girl. The boy had light brown hair and green eyes and looked to be maybe a year older than Sam. The girl was the same age as Jack and she had blonde hair with golden eyes. Then Jack looked to where Michael was; he was making a snow fort with three boys who all looked the same. They were all the same age as Jack and all had messy black hair, slightly tanned skin and blue eyes._

"_**Who to choose?!"**__ Jack scratched his head in thought. __**"Over there is Sammy with Susan and Eli. But over there is Michael with Richard, Ronald, and Randal."**__ Jack looked between the two groups before making his decision. He picked up a handful of snow and prepared to throw his newly-made snowball._

"Here we go," stated Bunny with a knowing look.

_Jack threw his ammo and it hit Susan in the face making her fall down with the snowman head still in her arms. She wipes the snow from her face and looks like she's about to cry when she spots Jack in a frozen throwing pose. She can't help but smile at seeing her friend and shouts to him, "Jack Frost, no fair!"_

_This caught everyone's attention and they all looked to the two four year olds. Jack stood straight and said innocently, "What? Me? No, it was Michael! He's the one next to a snow fort and ready for battle, not me!"_

_Everyone turns to look at Michael who looks at Jack with shocked eyes. Everyone giggles when he can't seem to form a sentence until he calls out "SNOWBALL FIGHT!" and then all hell broke loose._

_The three boys that had been building the fort with Michael jumped behind the wall and all yelled, "FREE FOR ALL!"_

_Michael was again stunned as a barrage of snowballs came from the three boys. He ran for cover and jumped behind a nearby wagon. Looking across to Sam – who hid behind a snowman – he said, "Ok, who said it was ok to let the triplets make a team together?"_

_Sam was about to answer when he got a face full of snow courtesy of Jack himself. Sam wiped it off and gave a playful glare to the younger boy. He then responded to his friend but never moved his sights off of Jack who stood there smiling triumphantly. Little did he know that it wouldn't last for long. "I don't know, Michael. However, I do know who's going to get a snowball next! Come back here Jack!" Sam lunged for Jack who dodged and ran off giggling like a mad-man._

"_You can't catch me. You can't hit me!" Jack sang as he dodged the onslaught of the battlefield while Sam got hit by nearly every one. One hit Sam in the face again and he fell on his bottom. Eli laughed and held his stomach; he had thrown the snowball resulting in Sam falling on his butt. Jack laughed but then saw Susan still hiding behind her snowman while the triplets started to corner her._

_Jack changed his course and quickly scooped up some snow. He made three snowballs and prepared to fire. Jack jumped onto the first layer of an unfinished snowman and began his barrage on the three brothers. The momentum of his throws made him spin in a circle before he made a sloppy summersault to land in front of the scared blonde. Jack turned to her and said, "Well, don't just stand there! Run for cover!" and Jack pulled her along until they were up against a wall of a cabin. It was a great cover and there were only two ways to fire from in order to attack._

_Jack and Susan panted as they tried to catch their breath. Jack looked back at here with confusion in his eyes and asked, "Why…didn't you…fire any…snow-snowballs?"_

_Susan replied, "I…I'm…no good…at aiming! Can't…hit anyone…until it's too late!"_

_It was then that Jack noticed that she was still carrying the smallest snowball meant for a snowman's head in her arms. Jack smirked again and whispered something into the little girl's ear. She giggled and nodded her head. "Can we really?" she asked._

_Jack nodded his head with a wide grin on his face. "Yeah, you just wait here and I'll lead someone in."_

_As Jack left, Susan climbed onto a crate next to the house so that she was taller than everyone else. About a minute later, Jack came running around the corner with his eyes wide. Susan was about to ask what was wrong when Jack quickly said, "They ALL followed me!"_

_Susan's eyes mimicked Jack's and they waited until they saw all the other boys round the corner. At first they didn't see it, but then they all slowed down and skidded to a halt in front of the two four year olds holding the snowman head. Sam and Michael stood in front while the triplets were behind them and Eli brought up the rear – all with comically large eyes as they took in the scene before them._

_Michael was the first to find his voice as he chuckled nervously. "Um, we surrender?" he asked hopefully. Sam just sent a glare that clearly said 'traitor'._

_Susan smiled and happily said, "Nope!"_

_Then Jack smiled too and said, "Happy first day of winter!" and both kids threw their giant snowballs. The result was chaotic and all six of the boys before them were covered in snow. Susan and Jack start laughing and fall onto the snow pile everyone else was in._

_Sam emerges and hugs Jack who squeals with excitement. "HA! Got you, you little trickster! Not bad for a four year old." Jack smiles back but still can't escape from his 'older brother'._

_Everyone pulls themselves out of the snow and back into the open area of town. Sam is carrying Jack while Michael holds hands with Susan. Richard, Ronald and Randal are shoving each other playfully behind them all. Eli just shakes his head in amusement. Sam shakes his cloak and shivers slightly. "Oh God, that's cold," he complains and shivers again._

_Jack giggles and Sam frowns slightly before smiling again. He tells the others that he has to bring Jack back to his mother and they all say that they'll see them both later. At the edge of town is Mary waiting and watching for her son with worried eyes. Those eyes quickly change into relief when she sees Sam with Jack._

_Sam puts Jack down and looks to Mary. "I hope Jack didn't cause too much trouble," she said._

"_Not at all, Mrs. Frost. Jack was just being Jack. In fact, there's something I need to give him before you two head on home," Sam said. Mary didn't miss the slightly mischievous tone in his voice but her son had been completely oblivious to it._

_Jack's eyes lit up and he asked hopefully, "You do?"_

_Sam nodded and knelt down to Jack's level._

Now, Jack didn't see it, and Mary didn't see it, but the others watching saw what was going on. Behind Sam's back was a clump of snow and he was hiding it. "Oh, Jack's gonna get it," said Caleb and Claude nodded in agreement.

Bunny almost felt sorry for Jack…almost. North smiled smugly while Toothiana covered her eyes. Baby Tooth copied her movements but peaked through her tiny fingers. Both Pitch and Sandy just crossed their arms and waited for what they knew what would happen.

Jamie and the rest of the Burgess children watched with trepidation.

"_Yep, just an early Birthday present if you will," Sam said as he placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. It all happened within the span of a few seconds, but the deed was done. Sam had stuffed the snow down the back of Jack's shirt and cloak and now the boy was trying desperately to get it out. Sam was laughing on the ground now and said, "Wow, it's just as they say; revenge is a dish best served cold!"_

_Jack managed to get the snow out and gave a somewhat hurt glare at his supposed 'older brother' who was still laughing. "Not funny," Jack yelled._

"_Hey, it's only fair. You got snow down my shirt and now I gave it right back. Everything's even," Sam stated._

_Mary knelt down to a nearly crying Jack. He was glaring now and was trying to mask his hurt by showing his rage but his tears welled in his eyes. Mary comforted her son and said to Sam, "But an eye for an eye will make the whole world go blind. You shouldn't go looking for revenge, especially if the one you're looking to do it on is close to you."_

_Sam looks down ashamed and mumbles, "I didn't think of that." Looking back to his hurt 'little brother' he asks, "Can you ever forgive me Jackie?"_

_Jack wiped away his unshed tears and nods. Sam opens his arms and gives a watery smile. Jack contemplates for a moment before running into the older boy's arms and crying silently._

Ok, now everyone was a little freaked. None of them had EVER seen Jack cry. The Guardians hadn't seen him cry even when Sandy had been lost. Pitch and Baby Tooth hadn't seen him cry even though they had both seen him looking crushed and heartbroken. And the Burgess kids; oh, they had never even thought about there being this side of Jack Frost. He was always so brave and fun in front of them. It made them all wonder, how many times had Jack felt the need to cry and be cared for but put it aside because he didn't want to show weakness or had to protect someone else?

This resulted in the Guardians to look to one another in shame and guilt. After all, Jack was an immortal child and they hadn't been treating him as such since the beginning. Pitch just pulled himself into his own thoughts and the children looked to their hero realising once again that he had been just like them once.

_The two boys pulled out of the embrace and Sam wiped away a few more tears. Jack beamed up at him as they both stood. "Happy Birthday, Jack. I'll see you soon, ok?" Sam asked._

_Jack nodded and replied, "Ok." He then turned and started walking off with his mother. Mary turned to look back and smiled before she added a wink. The two Frosts started down the road and Jack – acting like the moment from just a second ago didn't happen – began to tell his mother about how he and Susan took down the army of boys in an epic snowball fight._

* * *

The memory changed again and they were back at Jack's house. Outside, everyone was waiting to see what would happen next, although, some were more patient than others. The Burgess kids were the first to break the silence.

"Can you believe that snowball fight?!" exclaimed Monty.

"Yeah," agreed Cupcake, "Theirs made ours look like a game of catch!"

"And those triplets! What were their names again?" asked Caleb.

"Richard, Ronald and…and Randal? Yeah, his name was Randal!" supplied Claude.

Caleb nods in thanks. "Yeah, they were awesome! How come we never do that?"

"Because we always argue and can't focus in those kinds of situations," his brother replied.

"Well, you start it!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"ENOUGH!" yelled Pippa. "Enough you two, we don't need to hear that right now."

"Sorry," both twins mumble and Pippa nods her head in satisfaction.

Everyone soon moved into a simple conversation about how perfect the weather was for Jack's birthday, what Jack might get from his friends and family and finally about what day Jack's birthday landed on.

"Can you believe it?" North asks in pure wonder and excitement.

"I know! Jack really is a winter child! I mean, we already knew he was a winter child but now he really fits the description!" droned Tooth. She turned to Baby Tooth. "Right?" she asked and Baby Tooth twittered in agreement.

Bunny just chuckled, "who would a thunk it that Jack Frost was born on the first day of winter? I mean really."

Sandy smiled and form a snowflake followed by a number one.

No one seemed to notice that Pitch had removed himself from the group and was now leaning against the wall of the cabin. A snowflake flew down from the top of the cabin and landed on his outstretched hand. It didn't melt right away, but in a matter of seconds it was gone. "So, Jack, born on the first day of your season. How fitting," Pitch said to himself with a rare genuine smile.

"Not to warm but still cold enough to called winter and sometimes accompanied by snow and wind. Heh, just like you are now; willing to be warm if given the chance but could easily be harsh and scornful if wronged," the Nightmare King continued. His smile faltered when the Sandman approached him with a knowing smile and a dreamsand question mark above his head as if to ask '_what are you thinking about?_' as if he didn't already know. Pitch gave a sly smirk back and said, "None of your business, Sanderson."

The golden man shrugged and just when Pitch thought that he would leave him be, Sandy just created a cloud of dreamsand to sit on and stayed close by. Pitch rolled his eyes in annoyance. This annoyance grew slightly when a certain mini fairy thought it would be ok to fly on over.

Now despite what many thought, both Pitch and Sandy could in fact understand the mini fairies of Toothiana since they were usually around them the most other than Tooth herself. So what she said, both dream weavers understood and one really wished that the other hadn't.

Baby Tooth twittered and tweeted at Pitch who kept his face stoic with a little annoyance coming through. _"Why are you over here? Are you not enjoying looking through Jack's memories?"_ she had asked.

Pitch simply waved his hand to try and get rid of her; it didn't work. _"Jack says that you're not really a mean man, just lonely like Jack was. Jack says you two have a lot in common…I don't know why, but I trust him,"_ she continued.

Now **this **was news to Sandy. He hadn't known about this from the frost spirit. None of the other Guardians did, so why did Baby Tooth? He looked at the mini fairy and then to Pitch with another question mark. Pitch rolled his eyes again and tried to ignore the little fairy this time. Baby Tooth didn't feel discouraged and continued.

"_Like I said, I don't know why Jack would say any of these things to me and not anyone else, but maybe it had something to with a past encounter he might have had with you." _Now she had Pitch's attention. _"Maybe we'll all find out through his memories!"_

Pitch scoffed as if he didn't care what Frost thought of him, but on the inside he was both thrilled and worried. Thrilled because maybe he could let Frost in and be accepted by someone; be understood! Jack was right; they held much in common, it just differed by which side they had ultimately fell in with. However, he was worried because if these answers did lie somewhere in the boy's memories, then everyone would see them and might think less of him. If that happened, then Jack truly would be his downfall.

As Pitch thought about the little fairy's words, he almost didn't hear her twitter _'I'm going to sit here'_. He looked around and suddenly felt a small weight on his shoulder. He turned his golden eyes to his right and found the little fairy sitting there, quite comfortably too. Pitch tries to shoo her away but she ignores him. When he tries to forcibly remove her, she grabs onto his clothing and refuses to let go.

Acting like the child she was she whined, _"Nooo. If Jack trusts you enough to give you a second chance then I'm willing to too! I will not move!"_

Pitch glared at her and then at Sandy who was shocked by this revelation but laughed at his fellow dream weaver for the predicament he got himself into. "Oh, shut it Mansnoozie. As for you," he turned his attention back to the clinging mini tooth fairy, "Let. Go."

Unlike with Jack back when he had trapped Pitch, Baby Tooth refused and clung tighter to the Boogieman. Giving one final glare, Pitch conceded and grumbled to the fairy, "Fine, but don't come crying to me if you fall off. Annoying multi-coloured twerp."

Pitch left Baby Tooth alone but she happily stayed quiet and still while she perched on the tall man's shoulder. Hopefully, she could find what her Jack saw in this man.

It was at this moment that Jack and his mother came into view. Pitch turned to both spirits nearest him and hissed, "you tell no one of what just occurred – both of you – or I **will** let my Nightmares attack you. Understood?" Both nodded and he nodded back. Pitch never saw it, but Baby Tooth had shivered from the coldness in his voice while Sandy just rolled his eyes.

"_And-and then Susan and I threw the snowballs onto all six of them! But then Sammy caught me from under the snow," Jack exclaimed with wild hand gestures._

"_Well, it sounds like you had a fun time," Mary replied._

_Jack nodded. "No one can beat me!" he shouted with the biggest grin adorning his face._

_His mother giggled. "Oh? And why would that be?"_

_Jack gave her a mock-bow and said, "I am the Frost prince and no one can beat me-oof!" A snowball came out of nowhere and hit the little brunette in the side of the head causing him to fall back into the snow. Mary couldn't help the burst of laughter that escaped her. She quickly muffled it with her hand._

Everyone's expressions varied. Pitch was smirking smugly. Sandy seemed amused. Bunnymund by this time was on the ground laughing. North was surprised. Baby Tooth worried for the boy. Toothiana was afraid that Jack had damaged his teeth. Finally, all the Burgess kids were shocked.

Jamie whispered, "Someone hit Jack."

"Someone hit Jack?" Pippa repeated.

"No way, the king of snowballs was hit?" Cupcake asked.

"Who did it?" the twins asked in unison looking to their friends.

Monty shook his head. "Wasn't me!"

Sophie, not really knowing that Jack _never_ got hit by snowballs in a snowball fight, didn't understand what the big deal was and simply asked, "Jack-Jack?"

Everyone could only stand there gaping – not including Pitch, Sandy or Bunny – when they saw who had made the shot.

"_-In a snowball fight? Well, I think I have a pretty good chance, don't you think? They only ones to beat a prince at his own game would have to be the queen or king, correct?" asked a voice from the woods._

_Jack sat up and shook the snow that covered him. He looked to where the voice originated from and complained, "No fair!"_

_Christopher emerged from behind a tree and said, "All's fair in love and war. You left yourself wide open for an attack. And you were lying." He paused to let this sink in._

_Jack – utterly confused as to how he was lying – just tilted his head in question. Chris chuckled and poked his son's belly with his staff. "__**You **__are not the best snowball fighter," he stood up and pointed to himself, "I am!"_

_That was when Christopher got a snowball to the back of his head. His face said nothing but utter surprise while Jack couldn't stop laughing at his father's expense. Chris turned and saw his wife with a smug smirk and a snowball. "Are you sure about that?" she asked._

_Christopher gave whoop of joy before throwing a snowball and shouting, "Oh, you are asking for it woman."_

_Mary laughed and started running away from her husband. She was soon caught and the two continued laughing. Jack sat off to the side smiling at his parents but also with a bit of curiosity in his eyes. When his parent leaned in to give each other a kiss, his eyes went wide and he covered them with his hands. His biggest mistake was saying "Eeeew" too loud._

_His parents looked at him and laughed. "Come here, Jack," Mary said in a singsong voice that the boy knew only spelled trouble for him._

_Jack backed away and shook his head. "nu-uh," he said. Christopher was almost close enough to grab the child when Jack's back hit the door of their house._

"_Gotcha now!" Chris exclaimed in victory. The only thing was that Jack was smiling instead of trying to look for an escape like his parents thought he would._

_Jack looked up at the man before him and said, "I win!"_

_Before his father could ask what he meant by that, Jack kicked the doorpost next to him. The next thing anyone knew, both Jack and Christopher had been buried in snow that fell off the roof. Both popped out a second later to which Jack promptly said, "oops."_

_Mary and Christopher couldn't help but laugh. "Didn't go quite as you planned, did it Jack?" Mary asked as she walked towards them. Jack just shook his head while his father moved the snow out of the way of their door._

_As soon as the snow was cleared, they entered the house. Mary dropped off her groceries at the table while Christopher helped his son with his cloak and boots. As soon as those were off, Jack raced off to the fireplace to warm up. Christopher soon followed and Mary had begun baking something. The room was filled with a sweet sent as well as a savoury one._

"Ah-ha! She is making birthday meal for later," North said as he came to a conclusion as to what the shopping was needed for.

"Ooh, I hope it doesn't rot his teeth," worried Tooth.

North rolled his eyes. "It'll be ok, Toothy. This was Jack then. He now has whitest teeth in world!" The Tooth Queen settled down a little but still kept an eye out for anything too sugary.

Time seemed to skip forward because they were now all seeing Jack's birthday party. The same kids from the snowball fight were playing and laughing while the older ones told them stories. There were also more adults which everyone assumed were the parents of the other children. Being more interested in the would-be frost spirit, everyone turned their attention to the group of kids.

"_-and then the enemy cornered the brave prince," Sam said while all the children gasped._

_Sam paused for dramatic effect. The triplets couldn't take the suspense and eagerly asked, "What happened next? What happened next?"_

_Sam smiled and said, "Well, the most unusual thing happened. Just as the enemy was about to make the finishing blow, a sword blocks his own. The evil man is taken aback because the wielder of the sword was no more than a child! A…a feisty red-head that always stood up for what they believed in."_

_Jack interrupted and said, "But you said the prince was also just a child."_

"_Yeah," the other kids agreed._

"_Well," Sam explained, "That may be true, but remember what I said earlier; the prince usually did things alone and that made him appear grown up. Now where was I? Oh, yes. That child was soon joined by two others; a scrawny brunette who became the change of their home and a stunning blond who could heal just about anything. Now, neither side was expecting three new kids to join this personal fight. Time seemed to stand still._

_The prince was the first to break the silence. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" he asked. The red-head replied, "we refuse to let you battle alone." Now, this took the prince by surprise since everyone left him alone and didn't give him a second glance most of the time, but here were three kids who refused to do that._

"_Why?" he asked. The brunette laughed and said, "Do you really think you're the only one to be different or left alone?" The prince didn't know what to say so the blonde took over. "Each of us is a prince or princess of a kingdom, but only we can really understand one another, that is why we will fight by your side!"_

_And then…" Sam stopped himself._

_Everyone leaned in hoping to hear the ending. "And then what?" Susan asked as she hugged a doll in fear and excitement._

_Sam scratched the back of his head and muttered an 'um' before Michael – who sat next to him – gave the brunette a dead-pan look and said, "You forgot how it ends, didn't you." When Sam didn't answer, everyone broke out laughing. _

_Sam's cheeks turned red and he stuttered, "sh-shut up! It'll come back to me!"_

"_Sure it will," mocked Michael. Leaning back a little he sighed, "It was a good story too. I wish I knew how it ended."_

_That was when one of the adults came over. He looked very similar to Sam except his hair had been grown out and tried back. "What happen to all the chatter over here? I thought Sam was telling you a story?" he said._

_Michael playfully shoved his friend and said, "Yeah, he was. That is until he forgot how the tale ended." Sam just turned redder from this knowing that it was true._

"_Ah, that's not a problem. I know how it ended; it is one of Sam's favourite stories. Where did you get to?" The man asked._

"_Right to the point where the prince suddenly gets help from the other three kids," Sam replied._

"_Oh, alright," he said. Clearing his throat he continued where Sam had left off. "And then, all four of the royals attacked their enemy with everything they had. The battle felt like hours but had really only been a few minutes. In the end, the four children had won. The enemy was defeated and there was peace once again._

_The four royals became good friends after that. For the rest of their lives they protected the land in case an enemy ever returned and were soon known as Nature's Big Four. They were never alone again and they lived-"_

_All the kids cut in and exclaimed, "Happily Ever After!"_

_Jack turned to Sam and asked, "Can you put that story in my story book? Please?"_

_Sam looked to the man near them and asked, "Can I father?"_

_Sam's father nodded in approval and Sam agreed to it. Jack was excited to have a new story, but his attention was soon pulled away by his own father._

"_Alright, everyone has eaten, so now I think it's time for Jack to look at his gifts. What do you think, Jack?" he asked._

_Jack hopped up and down yelling, "Yes. Yes. Yes."_

_Everyone gathered around and pulled out gifts wrapped in cloths and paper being held together by string. The first present was from Susan and her family. It was wrapped in a light blue cloth that made whatever was inside indefinable._

_Jack happily accepted the gift and looked at it curiously tilting it every which way. Finally, he pulled off the string and cloth to reveal a grey bunny doll. Jack couldn't hold back his excitement and exclaimed, "BUNNY!" and gave the new doll a huge hug. His mother cleared her throat and pointed to the Susan's family. "Thank you!" Jack said and gave Susan a hug. Susan giggled as the fur on the toy tickled her cheek._

_The next gift was from the triplets. Their gift was wrapped in simple brown paper and crinkled every time it moved. Jack unwrapped the gift to find a new journal to draw in as well as some pencils. Jack thanked and hugged his friends before moving on to the next gift._

_It was from Sam, Michael and Eli since they all spent so much time trying to make it. Even thought it was wrapped, everyone could see something glowing from within and it made them curious as to what the boys had got for Jack. Jack took off the cloth and gaped at what was inside. It was a jar with a cloth lid – the lid had several small holes in it. Inside the jar were maybe 15 fireflies. Jack looked at it in awe just like the other kids. Sam and Michael high-fived._

"_It took us almost all of the summer and autumn season to find and capture them," explained Michael._

"_But, the story I'm giving you later can be an added bonus," Sam added._

_Jack carefully placed the jar down and thanked them both. The result of his thank you was having his hair messed-up and being tickled until he could escape – which he never did, they just let him go. Finally, Mary and Christopher each held a gift for their son. Jack opened Mary's first. Inside the package were several new brown buck-hide vests. Mary helped jack into one and Jack looked himself over. Smiling with the addition to his wardrobe he hugged his mother._

_Mary happily accepted the hug and said, "If you ever want more in the future, just ask." Jack nodded and then went to open his father's gift. What was inside shocked everyone but made the two Frost boys giddy with excitement. It was a bow and a set of arrows._

_The bow was still too big for Jack, but it was obvious that he would be using it in the future if he decided to go hunting. Mary turned to her husband and accused, "I thought we agreed that he shouldn't have that yet!"_

_Christopher chuckled and said, "No, __**you**__ said that. I said that even though he won't be using it for a few years that he should still have one."_

_Jack didn't know what to do with it other than marvel at its beauty. Before he could even grab the bow, his father grabbed it and said, "I'm going to put this in your room for when you're old enough to use it. We don't want you hurting yourself, right?"_

_The guests soon started leaving and giving their last birthday wishes to Jack as time went on. Eventually, the Frost family started to head to bed as well. Before Jack went to his room, Mary said to him, "Now, don't go playing with your father's gift, Jack. You have three other gifts to play with until then."_

All the kids face-palmed. It was really quite the sight. Bunny - not sure why they did that - asked, "Oi ankle-bitters, why'd ya do that?"

Jamie shook his head already knowing what was going to happen. "She shouldn't have said that."

North was confused. "Why?" he asked, "What is wrong with what she say?"

This time Pippa spoke up. "You _never_ tell a kid not to do something! It only makes them want to do it more!"

Sandy caught on and made symbols of Jack and then the bow and arrows. Pitch nodded in agreement and translated, "Jack is going to play with his father's gift."

There was a sharing of worried glances before they watched Jack in his room.

_Jack placed the bunny doll on his bed while he placed the jar and journal on the table next to it. His mother had already taken the liberty of adding his new clothes to his wardrobe. Jack really wanted to at least try the bow once and went over to the corner where it now rested. The bow was bigger than him and he'd probably have to wait till he was maybe eight to properly use it. He picked the bow up and tested the sting; nice and tight. He the plucked an arrow from a pouch and set it in the bow._

_Jack made a test aim at the ceiling at one of the beams. He wasn't going to shoot it, just try it to feel what it was like! Jack was so focused on what he was doing he didn't notice his father until it was too late._

"_Jack, what are you doing?" Christopher asked._

_Jack, surprised by the unexpected visit, released the arrow and it flew into the beam he had aimed at. Jack looked to his father who was looking from his son to the arrow and back. Finally he said, "It doesn't look like that arrow will be coming out any time soon…don't tell your mother."_

_Jack nodded and put the bow back with the rest of the gift before miming that his lips were sealed._

The memory faded and everyone was frozen in shock. It was broken by North's thunderous laugh which caused the other Guardians and the children to laugh. Pitch rolled his eyes and scoffed on the outside, but inside he was laughing just like the rest. He didn't want to ruin his already dampened reputation as the Nightmare King. Baby Tooth smiled from her spot on Pitch's shoulder – which no one seemed to notice yet.

"Do…do you think Jack…will ever get that arrow out?" Bunny asked as he clutched his stomach.

"I guess we'll find out," replied Jamie.

Sophie giggled, "Jack-Jack funny."

"Remind me to get Jack trainer for when we return," North whispered to Sandy who nodded. The Sandman then made the image of a camera with a question mark.

Tooth shook her head. "Sorry Sandy, no one has a camera. Someone should though; we're seeing his past and we don't even get to capture the moment," she wined.

Some of the kids shook their heads while others continued to laugh like Bunny. By the time they had all calmed down the memory had faded. It was in that brief moment between the memories that something finally occurred to Bunny.

"Oi, mate," Bunny turned to North. "How do ya think Frostbite's doin'? I mean, we've only seen two memories so far and Jack is supposedly seeing them too – if we can trust what Nightlight said."

North scratched his beard. "I do not know," he finally said. "Jack could be seeing memories or just having faint idea as to what we see. He may not be seeing them at all and be doing other thing."

Little did they know that Jack knew exactly what memory they had just seen. However, he was busy with other things and only gave a mental note to which memory they were seeing. And as they continued to watch, he would soon be in for the surprise of his immortal life.

* * *

**Phantom: Ok, so thank you for the long wait but I have a hard time focusing during vacation. So as soon as I felt like writing I would jump on my computer until I lost the feeling.**

**In other news – I am so excited! If you don't watch me on DA then you don't know that my fav show **_**Danny Phantom**_** is likely to come back. Due to the huge success of Butch Hartman's show **_**T.U.F.F. Puppy**_**, he (as he always wanted it back) is going to bring back DP with new episodes. Hopefully they can bring it back with the same everything from where they last left off, but I'll have to wait and see. Boo, I want it now.**

**Trainer: I am so excited!**

**Phantom: I already said that!**

***Trainer lobs a ball of yarn and it hits Phantom in the side of the head. Awkward silence.***

**Phantom: YARN BALL FIGHT!**

**Trainer: you are so going down!**

**Both: Please review, we welcome it gratefully. If you do, we will give you a treat! *looks at each other* DIE PHANTOM/TRAINER!**


	4. Chapter 4: AN

Hi yah readers! Ok, so, I'm entering my first year of college and unfortunately for my stories it means that any updates I do for them will be much slower than before. I really wish it weren't so but it is and I have to deal with it now. I really hope that no one just abandons me and my stories because of this but I can understand if you do.

But please, to everyone who is currently following me, I want you to note that I am** NOT** putting them on_ HIATUS_ and not abandoning them. my updates will just not be as frequent as before.

Thank you to everyone! Phantom OUT!


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